


Replay

by MysticRose1992



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Canon Rewrite, F/M, Friendship/Love, Jealous Doctor (Doctor Who), Possessive Doctor (Doctor Who), Romance, Soul Bond, Soulmates, Time Travel, timey-wimey stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-10-21 08:51:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17639633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MysticRose1992/pseuds/MysticRose1992
Summary: After being brought back to her original universe by the TARDIS and Bad Wolf, Rose finds herself in the body of her younger self, just before she met the Doctor. Will Rose be able to change her future or will History be doomed to repeat itself?





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Wolf and The Storm](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/454061) by Major-Fangirl-333. 



> This work of fiction was inspired by 'The Wolf and The Storm' by Major-Fangirl-333 over on Fanftiction.net. If you like this story please hop over to read the story that inspired this one.

**Chapter One-**

Rose knew she was dreaming. Had to be. There was no other reason for her to be standing in the TARDIS. Rose let her eyes roam over the coral walls and the captain's chair before letting her eyes fall on the control station. She blinked in shock when, instead of the doctor, she found a beautiful woman with long dark brown hair that was half up in a messy updo. Rose knew she had never met this woman before, and yet something in her eyes seemed strangely familiar.

"I know you." Rose told the woman who smiled at her.

"Yes, you do." The woman told her and Rose stared at her. How did she know this woman? She was so familiar and yet, at the same time, a stranger. Looking in the woman's eyes Rose could see she was a lot older than she looked and had seen her far share of things. She was instantly reminded of the Doctor and, without thought, took a step forward.

"Are you the Doctor?" Rose asked uncertainly.

"No, I am not." The woman told her and Rose took a step away from her. If this woman wasn't the Doctor, who was she? What did she want from Rose? Even though this was a dream, Rose felt a wave a fear was over her. The Doctor wasn't here to save her, would never be there to save her any more.

_"One the breach collapses, that's it, you won't ever be able to see her again!"_  The Doctor's voice rang through out the TARDIS, his voice desperate that she understood him.

"Where are you?" She hear herself ask looking around to try and find him. His voice had been so clear and loud, as if he had been right beside her.

_"Inside the TARDIS."_  He told her, suddenly she was no longer standing inside the TARDIS, now she was standing on Bad Wolf bay. The woman was now next to her, her eyes taking everything in. The Doctor was standing across from them, faint and see through. This was a memory. A memory that Rose wanted to both forget and remember. Tears filled her eyes. This was a memory of the last time she would ever see her Doctor.

_"There's one tiny little gap in the universe left. Just about to close. And it takes a lot of power to send this projection. I'm in orbit around a supernova. I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye."_  The Doctor sounded so sad that Rose wanted to reach out and touch him, even though she knew he wasn't really there, he was just a fragment of her imagination now.

"You look like a ghost." She told him, repeating exactly what she had told him that day.

_"Hold on."_  He told her before beginning to fiddle with his screwdriver, and seconds later, his form became more solid. Rose chocked back a sob, he wasn't there, he would never be there! And yet, even though she knew that this Doctor wasn't real, she couldn't stop herself from walking closer to him. It hurt so much to see him, to know that he would never be there beside her. Would never grab her hand. Would never sneak into her room on the TARDIS late at night and watch her sleep. Would never hug her ever again.

"Can I...?" She asked knowing the answer already. Had he looked that sad during that day? Or was her imagination tampering with her memory? Right now, the Doctor looked as broken as she felt. It broke her heart even more, she couldn't stand seeing him look like that.

"Do you want to go back?" The woman asked dissolving the memory. Rose blinked and once again they were inside the TARDIS.

"Of course." Rose told her without hesitation. "But it can never happen. The gap is closed."

"There is away." The woman told her and Rose shook her head.

"Impossible." Rose told her causing the woman to smirk at her.

"But don't we just love impossible things, My Wolf?" The woman asked shocking Rose. The was only one being that called her that.

"You cant... How can..." Rose stumbled, her eyes taking in the woman seeing everything that she hadn't seen before... no, not hadn't seen before, but rather  _refused_  to see. "But you are. You're the TARDIS." The woman smiled at her. "But how come you look like that?"

"This is just a projection of a form I have taken once before. Not not have, will. This is a projection of a form I will take." The TARDIS told her in confusion. "As you know it's all, what does he say? Wibbily-Wobbily Timey-Wimey. No, not does, will. He will say." The TARDIS looked off into the distance before shaking her head. "No time for that now. We must focus on getting you home." Excitement swelled inside her, before Rose remembered that this was just a dream.

"I'm dreaming." She muttered to herself sadly.

"But, My Wolf, this isn't just any old dream. I am the TARDIS. I get inside your head. And once I've been inside your head, I can enter it at any time I please, no matter how far you are. And since we are connected, it's so much easier to enter your mind than most." The TARDIS informed her.

"You mean, you're really here? I'm really talking to you?" Rose asked daring to let herself hope.

"Of course, My Wolf. I know your mind can be cruel to you, but I would never let it be  _that_  cruel." The TARDIS told her softly and Rose threw her arms around the woman.

"So, there really is a way to get me home?" Rose asked.

"Of course. Mind you, what we're about to do is breaking every rule. And if we are not careful we could cause a paradox. A powerful paradox, one strong enough to rip both our universe and this universe to shreds." The TARDIS informed her and Rose dropped her arms from around the TARDIS to look at her in shocked terror. "But I am desperate. I've already tried everything I can think of with out breaking the laws of time and space. But My Theif is refusing to listen, refusing my help. He has shut himself off from the world. My Theif is drowning himself in the pain and loss he is feeling at losing you, My Wolf. And I am afraid that if we don't do something soon, then My Theif will kill himself."

Rose gasped. The Doctor was going to kill himself! It was just like the Game Station all over again. Rose couldn't let the Doctor kill himself! Not if there was away that she could save him.

"How do we save him?" Rose asked.

"The only way to safely get you back to him is to have you relive your life with him. That is the only way to safely do this with out him suspecting anything. If My Theif were to find out what we are doing, he will stop us, he will force us to put things right, no matter how much it would kill him to loose you again." The TARDIS explained.

"But, if he were to have just met me, he wouldn't be able to tell if I knew too much or not. If I were to play the cards right, I could just appear to be a very clever human to him." Rose said catching on to the plan.

"Correctomundo." The TARDIS said before wincing. "Oh, now I see why he never says that." Rose couldn't stop herself from laughing. "My Wolf, it is time, obviously you know not to let the Doctor know of this, and I must ask you to get him to ask you twice. This is important because this is the first time he has ever come back for someone." The TARDIS told her sternly.

"Right, don't be too suspicious and get him to ask twice." Rose nodded.

"Close your eyes." The TARDIS told her, and Rose did as she was told. For a split-second she felt light as a feather before a tingling sensation flew thew her body. Gold light shined bright behind her eyelids, and Rose had to force herself not to open her eyes when she heard the Wolf in her howl. And then, her body was heavy once more and her back was pressed tightly up against the wall. The sound of plastic rubbing against itself flew through her ears and she knew that she was her 19 year old shop-girl self, down in the basement of Henriks with the lottery money to give to Wilson, now dead.

Rose gasped in delighted shock when a rough, calloused hand gripped hers. Her heart jumped in her chest, she knew this hand. And though it had been years since she had last held it, she would never forget the feeling of it. This was the hand of her first Doctor. She allowed herself to open her eyes and look at the man in shock. He was there, standing in front of her. Her eyes took in his short brown hair, his steel-blue eyes, his large ears, and his leather jacket.

"Run!" He told her in his Northern Accent. Her grip on his hand tightened as she pushed off the wall and allowed him to lead her away from the living plastic. And just in time too, as one of the living plastic swung and cut a steam pipe in half.

As Rose and the Doctor burst though a set of blue metal doors to run down the corridor to the lift, Rose allowed herself to smile. She had missed this. Running with the Doctor by her side, hand in hand. That was their thing, hand in hand. She glanced behind them to find the living plastic following them. Rose remembered being terrified and confused when this had happened the first time. Now Rose found it thrilling and fun, but that was probably because now she knew that she wasn't in danger. She knew that the Doctor would keep her safe.

They burst through another set of blue metal doors and to the lift. The Doctor quickly pressed the button to call the lift and the doors opened instantly. The Doctor pulled her into the lift while glancing behind them at the living plastic. Rose quickly began pressing the button to get the doors to close as one of the living plastic reached in and tried to grab the Doctor. Rose watched the Doctor struggle with the living plastic before she quickly dove in and separated the arm from the body.

"Living plastic. Never start your day without them." She joked tossing the plastic arm at the Doctor, who easily caught it. He gave her a strange look.

"You deal with this often?" He asked tossing the arm back at her.

"Yeah, everyday that ends in '-y'." She told him sarcastically moving to stand at the back of the lift and watch him as he nervously watched the numbers on the lift go up. He paused in his nervous swaying to look at her incredulously.

"Seriously?!" He asked with barely hidden concern.

"No!" She told him with a slight laugh. "I was being sarcastic. Of course I don't deal with this often! But you certainly seem used to it." She added with her smile that was only for him. His eyes roamed her face, trying to see if she was telling the truth or not before sighing and rolling his eyes.

"You humans and your sarcasm. I swear you live off it." He said with a shake of his head.

"It's only because it's tasty." She told him jokingly. Her smile widened when she heard him give out a huff of a laugh before glancing at her again. He looked as if he were waiting for her to do something. "What?" She asked.

"You seem to be accepting this well." He told her. It finally dawned on Rose what he was waiting for, he was expecting her to start panicking.

"Well, what'd you expect? For me to scream? Cry? Demand to know if this was a trick with students dressed up as plastic dummies?" Rose asked with a laugh.

"Why would they be students?" The Doctor asked causing Rose to pause, of course that's what he would pick up on.

"I don't know." Rose told him, her mind flashing back to the first time. He had picked up on the student thing then too.

"Well, you said it. Why students?" The Doctor asked turning away from the lift doors to give her his full attention. She racked her brain, what had she said the first time?

"Cause... to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they got to be students. But, we already know they're not students It's living plastic." Rose told him motioning to the plastic arm in her hand.

"You're right." He told her turning back to the lift doors. "About the plastic." Rose smiled at his back before she remembered why she had originally gone down there.

"What about Wilson?" She asked confusing the Doctor enough to have him look at her.

"Who's Wilson?" He asked.

"Chief Electician." She informed him as he turned back towards the lift doors, his curiosity sated.

"Wilson's dead." The Doctor told her as the lift doors finally opened. And though Rose had already known that, she couldn't stop pain at the loss of an innocent man. Rose sighed and followed the Doctor out of the lift. "Mind your eyes." He told her before he soniced the button for the lift, causing it to spark and break, keeping the lift doors open and trapping the living plastic down in the basement.

"What is your plan?" Rose asked quickly following the Doctor when he turned and began to speed walk away from the now broken lift.

"As you've already figured out, those lot down there are made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. And they're being controlled by a relay device on the roof." The Doctor explained to her as he began to lead her towards the back door. "Which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He pulled out a crudely made bomb out of the inside pocket of his leather jacket and showed it to her as they came to the back door.

"So, I'm going upstairs and blow it up. And I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me." The Doctor told her, and Rose had to stop herself from demanding he take her too so she could keep him safe. And knowing that he would live helped her. The Doctor opened the back door and Rose stepped through it, turning to look at him. "No, you go home. Go on, go and have your lovely beans on toast." He ordered her with a forced smile. "Don't tell anyone about this, 'cause if you do, you'll get them killed." With that said he shut the door. Rose stayed where she was watching the door while counting down the seconds, knowing he would be back.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way." The Doctor told her as he opened the door again. "What's your name?"

"Rose. Rose Tyler." Rose told him with a small smile.

"Nice to meet you, Rose. Rose Tyler. Run for your life!" The Doctor told her smiling back at her while waving his bomb. Rose laughed after he shut the door again while shaking her head. God she had missed this. She quickly spun on the balls of her feet and ran as fast as she could, passing by the TARDIS. Rose had to force herself not to run into the TARDIS and forced her feet to take her back to her flat she shared with her mum. She had some planning to do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two-**

The next morning Rose was already up and about before her alarm went off at 7:30. She had a small bag that could pass as a purse with her passport, her money from under her mattress that she had been saving up to try and get her A-levels, her phone and a small letter to her mum, plus anything else she thought she might need. The second her alarm went off, Rose shut it off as her mother called to her. "There's no point getting up, sweetheart. You've no job to go to." Rose couldn't help but smile at that, she still had to be ready for when the Doctor dropped by. Rose sighed before leaving the room, shocking her mum by already being dressed, and dropped her small bag beside the couch where she could easily grab it. "You're up early."

"Thought I'd get ahead start on looking for a new job." Rose told her. Her mother nodded before going into the kitchen to make herself some tea as Rose absentmindedly flipped through the help wanted section in the newspaper.

"There's Finch's. You could try them. They've always got jobs." Her mother called out.

"Of course." Rose said, not really paying attention as she watched the clock. When had he gotten there the first time? Why hadn't she checked the clock the first time? But then again, she hadn't known the Doctor would wonder to her flat the first time. Should she go looking for him? No, she had to be in her flat when he got there. It'd be too suspicious if she was out looking for him.

"It might do you good. That shop was giving you airs and graces." Her mother told her, misreading her tone. Rose looked at her when she exited the kitchen. "I'm not joking about compensation. You've had genuine shock and trauma." Her mother told her as she began to head back to her room to finish getting ready. "Ariana got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek!" Rose laughed at that.

"But she is Greek." Rose said still laughing.

"That's not the point!" Her mother snapped at her as she entered her room. "It was a valid claim." Rose shot out of her chair when she heard the cat-flap and knew the Doctor was there. She had to fight the urge to throw open the door and bent down to look through the cat-flap to see the Doctor staring at her. Rose smiled and jumped up, throwing the door open and laughed at the Doctor's shocked and confused face.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded.

"I live here." She told him with a slight laugh.

"What do you do that for?" The Doctor asked, his confusion hidden behind sarcasm.

"Cause I do. I'm only home 'cause someone blew up my job." Rose teased with a smirk as the Doctor pulled out his screwdriver.

"Must have got the wrong signal." He muttered as he turned the screwdriver on. Rose had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from telling him that the plastic arm he was looking for was hiding behind her couch. "You're not plastic are you?" He asked before lightly knocking on her forehead. "Nope, bonehead. Bye, then!" The Doctor said before turning to leave. Fear shot though Rose, he was about to leave her again! She couldn't let him leave her again! Without thanking, Rose quickly grabbed him by the back of his leather jacket. His shocked look snapped her back to reality.

"You, inside, right now." She ordered before dragging him into her flat.

"Who is it?" Her mother called from her room. Rose unconsciously took the Doctor by the hand before leading him to the living room. Peeking into her mother's room as she did so.

"It's about last night. He's part of the inquiry. Give us 10 minutes." Rose told her mother before continuing to lead the Doctor into the living room.

"She deserves compensation!" Her mother called out from her room as Rose forced the Doctor to sit on the sofa with her right beside him.

"Oh, were talkin' millions." The Doctor called back. Rose bit her lip watching as he awkwardly searched the room with his eyes. She had never felt more thankful that she had straightened up some last night than she had ever been.

"Right!" Rose cried out shooting up from the couch. "Do you want a coffee?"

"Might as well, thanks, just milk." The Doctor told her as she flew into the kitchen, her eyes never leaving him, ready to save him when the arm attacked. She watched as the Doctor slowly stood up from the couch and began to roam around the room. The Doctor picked up the magazine from the coffee table and began to flip through it. "That won't last. He's gay and she's an alien." He muttered. And had her hearing not been enhanced by Bad Wolf, she would have never heard him.

Rose blinked in confusion, technically this body had not looked into the Heart of the TARDIS. So how was it that this body now had some of the effects of Bad Wolf? The sensing of the Earth Turning and feeling some Timelines she could understand, that was a mental thing, and she had Bad Wolf in her mind. But the enhanced hearing was another thing. Rose bit her lip. She so desperately wanted to ask the Doctor about this, but she couldn't. She blinked once more as the image of Jack flashed through her mind before she shook it away and felt Bad Wolf huff in annoyance before she focused back on the Doctor.

The Doctor dropped the magazine back onto the coffee table before picking up a a book and read it lightning quick. "Mmm. Sad ending." He muttered dropping the book back onto the coffee desk. The Doctor walked over to their dining table, his eyes locking onto hers for a minute before he looked away as he picked up a piece of mail that had been left on the table. "Rose Tyler." He read off the envelope, causing a shiver of want to run down Rose's spine at the way he had said her name. When he spotted the small mirror hanging on the wall, he dropped the mail and began checking himself over. Just as had done after he had regenerated after the Game Station.

Rose gasped in shock. Had he just regenerated? Was this the first time he had been able to get a look at himself? "Ah, could've been worse. Look at the ears!" The Doctor complained and Rose had to stop herself from claiming how much she loved his ears in this form. Of course they could never compete with his big, brown, puppy-dog eyes in his next form, but he was still very handsome in this form, ears and all. Rose continued to watch him with a small smile as he tried to figure out who he was in this body.

"Luck be a lady." The Doctor said in a sing-song voice as he picked up a deck of cards. He shuffled them for a bit before they flew out of his hands and scattered all over the living room floor. "Maybe not." He muttered. Rose straightened up when she heard the pitter-patter of the arm running across the floor.

"What's that then?" The Doctor asked, having also heard the noise. Rose began to make her way out of the kitchen as the Doctor walked back over to the couch, where the sound had come from. "Have you got a cat?" He asked looking behind the couch. Rose flew over to him when the arm began to choke him. She quickly pulled the arm off him and began to fight it when it turned and tried to choke her.

"Doctor!" She cried out in reflex just before it latched onto her face, cutting off her air supply. Rose and the Doctor began to fight the arm trying to get it off of her face. They crashed into the glass table, shattering it, with her on top of the Doctor as they continued to fight the arm.

Somewhere in the back of Rose's mind, she wondered what her mother was doing and why she hadn't run into the room during all this commotion. She felt the Doctor roll them over and pin her beneath him, and was thankful that her ability to hold her breath longer than normal humans had also seemed to pass over to her younger self. That was, once again, thanks to Bad Wolf. Rose heard the sound of the Sonic Screwdriver just seconds before the arm released her face to allow her to take a deep breath.

"Cutting it a bit close there, Doctor." Rose gasped out with a small smile. The Doctor tossed the arm beside them before he ran shaky hands across her face and through her hair.

"You're safe." He told her softly, and Rose had a feeling he had said that more to himself than her as she nodded having finally caught her breath.

"Yeah. But you won't if my mum comes in here and finds us like this." Rose told him jokingly as she lightly squeezed her legs around his slim hips. She couldn't help chuckling at the Doctor when his face turned bright red before he jumped off her. He held out his hand to her and she gladly took it, allowing him to help her up.

"Right, lots to do." The Doctor said quickly bending down to pick up the arm before bolting out the door. Rose grabbed her bag and took off after him, she was not going to let him get away that easily.

"Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off!" Rose called after him as they jogged down the stairs of her building.

"Yes. I can. Here I am. This is me, swanning off, see ya!" The Doctor told her in a tone that she had heard him use whenever she had caught him doing anything embarrassing. Rose smirked at that, he was embarrassed!

"That arm just tried to kill me!" Rose pointed out.

"Ten out of ten for observation." The Doctor snapped at her. She didn't take it to heart knowing that he would be testy until he got over his embarrassment.

"I'm not letting you walk away." She informed him. "You're going to tell me what's going on."

"No, I'm not." The Doctor growled out to her. She was pushing his buttons, she knew that. But she also knew which buttons to push to get him to do what she wanted.

"I'm involved in this now, rather you like it or not. You can't get rid of me." Rose told him as they exited the building. The Doctor whipped his head around to look at her.

"Is that supposed to be a threat?" The Doctor asked, his eyes narrowed as he tried to read her.

"No, it's a promise." She told him with a soft smile as they sped walked across the Estate.

"A promise can break." The Doctor told her.

"Not this one." Rose told him. "Who are you?" She asked quickly changing the subject before the Doctor could question her and get her to say something she shouldn't and expose the plan.

"Told you, the Doctor." The Doctor told her with a warm smile.

"Doctor What?" Rose asked already knowing the answer. She also knew that the Doctor loved this part, it was one of his favorite part of meeting people. His other favorite part was hearing his new companions telling him that the outside of the TARDIS was smaller than the inside.

"Just the Doctor." The Doctor told her with a laugh.

"The Doctor?" Rose asked.

"Hello." He said with a smirk causing Rose to laugh.

"Is that supposed to sound impressive?" She teased him with her own smirk.

"Sort of." The Doctor told her, his smirk slipping a little when he didn't get the reaction he was hoping for. Rose smiled at him before latching onto his arm and resting her chin on his shoulder, looking up at him through her eyelashes. She was flirting with him, but she couldn't help it, she loved him.

"Come on then, you can tell me. I've seen enough." Rose told him softly and felt him tense up slightly before relaxing. "I'm smarter than you think. I'll understand it. I know that the living plastic is only targeting me because of you, I also know they won't stop coming after me. They want to use me to get to you."

"Oh, so the entire world revolves around you, does it?" The Doctor asked teasingly. Rose knew he was trying to stall for time, hoping that she would get bored or frustrated and leave on her own. She smirked, there was no chance in hell she would leave him now.

"I know the world doesn't revolve around me. Just like I know the only reason that the arm tried to kill me was because it was after you." Rose told him. "Just like last night, in the shop, you were there and I blundered in."

"Almost ruined the whole thing." The Doctor cut in glaring at her. And had Rose not known him as well as she did, she wouldn't have seen that his glare was more playful than angry.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that." Rose said playfully smirking at him, not actually sorry. "And then this morning, you were tracking it down, and it was tracking you down."

"How do you know that?" The Doctor asked suspiciously.

"It's obvious when you look at the facts." Rose told him resting her cheek on his leather clad shoulder and breathed in the smell of the leather. She was going to enjoy this Doctor for as long as she had him. "The only reason it fixed on me was because of you. So, as I said before, I'm involved in this now."

"So, what you're saying is the entire world revolved around me?" The Doctor asked teasingly.

"Yup." She said popping her 'p' as she lifted her head up enough to look at him.

"That sounds about right, yeah." The Doctor joked back with his goofy grin. They stayed staring at each other for a long minute before they burst out laughing.

"You're full of it." She teased causing him to laugh louder.

"Sort of, yeah." He teased back.

"I'm guessing that we're the only ones who know about the living plastic?" Rose asked sobering up, knowing the answer.

"Just us." The Doctor confirmed.

"You're not on your own, are you?" Rose asked fight back her tears at the thought of her Doctor traveling through time and space all on his own, having just regenerated.

"Well, who else is there?" The Doctor asked, his tone light as he tried to make fun of the situation, but his eyes were dark and lonely. "I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time underneath you, there's a war going on." Rose sucked in a breath at the mention of a war. And logically she knew he wasn't talking about the Time War, but that still didn't stop her mind from bringing up the images she had imagined when the Doctor had first told her about the Time War. She would not allow her Doctor to be alone any longer.

"Okay. Start from the beginning." Rose ordered tightening her grip on his arm. The Doctor looked at her in shock before he maneuvered the arm in her grip to take hold of one of her hands while still allowing her to keep ahold of him. And he explained everything to her as they continued to walk around the Estate, ignoring the looks and whispers they were getting. Rose knew what everyone was whispering about, she was still dating Mickey and they knew that. And yet, here she was with another man being all lovey-dovey. She would have to properly break up with Mickey this time around.

"Right, so we've got living plastic. So there is obviously something controlling it. How do we stop it?" Rose asked.

"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal. Dead." The Doctor explained.

"Thought control? Or is it radio control?" Rose asked.

"Thought control." The Doctor confirmed and Rose nodded.

"It's alien, so thought control makes sense." Rose muttered just loud enough for the Doctor to hear.

"How do you know it's alien." The Doctor asked, his tone letting her know this was a test. He was trying to test her deduction skills.

"Nothing on earth can do something like this. At least, not that I know of." Rose informed him.

"You're right." The Doctor told her with a gentle squeeze of her hand.

"So who's controlling it?" Rose asked.

"Long story." The Doctor told her and Rose playfully rolled her eyes at him.

"What's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies, what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britian's shops?" Rose joked causing the Doctor to laugh, his laugh was contagious and soon she was laughing with him.

"No." The Doctor told her while still laughing.

"So, it's not a price war?" Rose asked jokingly, happy that he was smiling. This Doctor didn't smile or laugh nearly as much as she wanted him to. They both laughed loudly as the Doctor unconsciously leaned his head atop hers.

"They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you." The Doctor informed her as they sobered up. "Do you believe me?" He asked her softly, his voice barely above a whisper. They stared at each other for a long minute before Rose nodded.

"Of course." She whispered to him confusing him.

"Why? I just told you the most ridiculous thing anyone could come up with, and yet you believe me, just like that?" The Doctor asked as they came to a stop.

"Of course." Rose repeated. "It's your eyes. I can look at them and see that you're telling the truth. They tell me that you've seen your fair share of nasties, that you've been through hell and back." Rose told him and had to stop herself from telling him that he didn't have to be alone anymore, that she was there with him now. "Who are you, Doctor?" She whispered not actually asking for his name. And with the way the Doctor was staring at her, Rose knew he understood what she was asking. His grip on her hand tightened just a little.

"Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?" He asked her softly and Rose nodded. "It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still." The Doctor looked away from her, his eyes becoming distant. She knew he was feeling the Earth moving, the Timelines flowing, the universe growing. She knew because she could feel it too, through Bad Wolf.

"I can feel it." He whispered to her looking into her eyes once more. Rose had to stop herself from telling him that she could feel it as well. She was supposed to be human, and humans didn't feel things like that. "The turn of the Earth." The Doctor continued pulling her away from her thoughts. "The ground beneath our feet is spinning at 1,000 miles an hour. And the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at 67,000 nukes an hour. I can feel it, we're falling though space, you and me." Rose felt her heart sped up and her breath began to come out as pants. She wasn't afraid or scared of him, no, it was at times like these that Rose truly understood how much she loved this man, how much she wanted him.

"Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world," The Doctor continued as they stared into each other's eyes, each forgetting the world around them, "and if we let go..." As if in sync, the Doctor and Rose let go of each other. The loss of contact with the other seemed to snap them back to reality. "That's who I am." He told her, and she understood more than he thought she did.

"Now forget me, Rose Tyler." The Doctor ordered sadly as he took a step away from her and towards the TARDIS that Rose just realized was less than ten feet away from them. "Go home." Rose watched the Doctor walk away from her, her heart aching to run after him. But it wasn't time for her to enter the TARDIS yet, she still had things to do. Rose smiled sadly as the TARDIS brushed up against her mind in a soothing manner before she dematerialized. Soon, she would be home. Soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three-**

After the Doctor had left in the TARDIS Rose sighed and made her way to Mickey's. She had someone to look up, and a way for the Nestene Consciousness to get Mickey. After a quick online search she found Clive, and after a much longer time, she convinced Mickey to take her to see him. And as Rose had listened to Clive talk to her about the Doctor, she had Bad Wolf look into his timeline to see if she could save him. She could not. After her meeting with Clive, she allowed the plastic Micky to take her to eat pizza.

"Do you think I should try the hospital? I think I'd be really good at running around and helping a doctor." Rose asked with a small smirk at her little inside joke while biding her time for the Doctor to show up. "I could do A-levels. I don't know." Rose smiled at the awkward living plastic, trying to figure out how she hadn't noticed the first time. "What do you think?"

"So where did you meet this Doctor?" The plastic-Mickey asked.

"No, you're not going to get that information out of me." Rose told the living plastic.

"Cause I reckon it all started back at the shop, am I right?" The plastic-Mickey continued and Rose shook her head with a smile.

"Nope, my lips are sealed." Rose told it.

"Come on." The plastic-Mickey said with a smirk before reaching out to try and grab her hand, but Rose nonchalantly moved her hand away. She had learned her lesson the first time, she wasn't going to let him grab her this time. "What was he doing there?"

"Secret." Rose told him with a smile. This game was kind of fun this time around, now that she knew the rules and what would happen.

"But you can trust me, sweetheart. Babe, darling, sugar..." The plastic said as it started to malfunction. Rose had to keep herself from laughing. "You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Rose. That's all I want to do, sweetheart. Darling, babe, babe, sugar, sweetheart." The plastic said malfunctioning again. Rose let out a snort.

"Seems you're malfunctioning, just a little." Rose said with a smirk as the Doctor made his way over to them with a champagne bottle. He was there to save her, just like she knew he would. All though, this time she didn't actually need saving.

"Your champagne." The Doctor said offering the champagne to the plastic.

"We didn't order any champagne." The plastic told the Doctor without looking away from Rose. She watched the Doctor walk around Mickey to stand in front of her. "Where's the Doctor?"

"Madam, your champagne." The Doctor offered her the bottle.

"Why thank you, kind sir." Rose said with a smile, taking the bottle, shaking it up before pointing it at the plastic just as he spotted the Doctor beside her. "Cheers, mate!" She cried before popping the cork. It flew at the plastic-Mickey and hit him in the middle of his forehead, his plastic head absorbed it before he spit it back out.

"Anyway!" The plastic-Mickey said before moving to launch over the table at the Doctor, but Rose kicked the table flipping it over to land on the stunned plastic. She hopped onto the over turned table, pressing all her weight on it and grabbed the plastic-Mickey by the head. Now that the Doctor was here, she was free to act. Rose quickly pulled the plastic-Mickey's head off before allowing the Doctor to take her by the arm and pull her away.

"Don't think that's gonna stop me." The head in her hands said before the headless body threw the table off him and got up before it began to flail. The restaurant quickly flew into a panic before the Doctor hit the fire alarm.

"Everyone, out! Out now!" The Doctor ordered. The guest ran towards the front of the restaurant while Rose allowed the Doctor to pull her towards the back, where she knew the TARDIS was waiting for them. When they burst out the back door into the closed in area out back, Rose couldn't stop the bark of laughter that flew out of her mouth. She twirled and spun as the Doctor used his screwdriver to seal the back door as the headless plastic-Mickey began to try and beat it down. Rose tossed the head into the air, catching it before calmly following the Doctor into the TARDIS, smiling as the TARDIS nuzzled into her mind.

_Welcome home, My Wolf._  The TARDIS sung in her mind as Rose allowed herself to look around the room with a large smile. She was finally home.

"So, we're safe in here, yeah?" Rose asked tossing the head to the Doctor, who quickly caught it and began to scan it.

"The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door. Believe me, they've tried! Now, hush up a minute." the Doctor told her before he began to hook the head up to the TARDIS letting her locate where the Nestene Consciousness was. Rose slowly walked around the console room allowing her hand to run along every coral pillar as she soaked up the feeling of finally being home.

"You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source." The Doctor explained before turning to look at her. "Right. Where do want to start?"

"She beautiful." Rose whispered knowing he could hear her as her eyes roamed the room.

"No." The Doctor said causing Rose to look at him, she laughed at his confused face. He had not expected that.

"You find her ugly?" Rose asked teasingly causing the Doctor to lightly blush.

"That's not what I meant. All I meant is that's not what you're supposed to say. And how did you know she was a she?" The Doctor asked walking over to her as Rose began to lovingly pet the coral pillar next to her.

"She's a ship, right?" Rose asked and the Doctor nodded. "Well, aren't all ships feminine? But I'll take a guess and say that she's alien."

"Yeah. How'd you know?" The Doctor asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"It's obvious. Take a look around you, anyone with a brain can see that this is not human technology. The outside is made to look smaller than the inside. And there's this-this strange feeling in the air. It's as if your ship is alive." Rose told him, giving him her smile that was meant only for him.

"You're clever, Rose Tyler. I'll give you that."

"Are you alien?" Rose asked watching as he tensed up. Did he expect her to run away from him.

"Yes. Is that alright?" The Doctor asked stiffly and Rose smiled at him before latching onto his arm.

"Of course. You're still the same man from this morning, the one that saved my life. Your eyes are still the same as they were when we met. The fact that you're not human doesn't change a thing." Rose told him truthfully. She felt him relax in her arms and smiled at him.

"You're an odd one, Rose Tyler." The Doctor whispered to her. Rose stood on her tippy-toes and kissed his cheek.

"I take that as a complement." Rose told him before letting go of his arm and spun around with a large smile. "So, what's her name?"

"She's called the TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S, that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space." The Doctor informed her with a smile as she looked back at him, he was so adorable when he bragged about his ship.

"So, tell me, why a Police Public Call Box?" Rose asked.

"It's a disguise." The Doctor told her.

"Okay. How's that work? Is there a device embedded in the TARDIS that makes her appear as something that will help her blind in?" The Doctor nodded. "Okay. So, going by logic here, you must have landed somewhere they had Police Public Call Boxes, which could have only been in the 50's. The device malfunctioned and got stuck, leaving the TARDIS to continue to appear as a Police Public Call Box." Rose continued before looking at the Doctor. "TARDIS: Time And Relative Dimension In Space? Is she a time machine as well as a space ship?"

"How'd you figure that out?" The Doctor asked in amazed shock.

"I just put all the facts and clues together before coming to a conclusion." Rose told him with a smirk as the TARDIS laughed in her mind.

"Rose Tyler, you are a clever little ape." The Doctor breathed out.

"I have a question." Rose told him.

"Shoot... I never got that phrase. What are you shooting? You're obviously not shooting a gun at me, so why would I say that? It's sort to stupi-" Rose cut off the Doctor's ramblings by kissing him on the lips. Rose slowly pulled away from the kiss, blushing. When the Doctor had started rambling Rose couldn't stop the warm feeling of love in her heart, nor did she want to stop it. And then, without thought, she had kissed him.

"Sorry, you were rambling. Don't know why I did that." Rose whispered against his lips.

"It's fine." The Doctor whispered back before shaking himself out of the stooper she had seemed to put him in as he unconsciously took hold of her hand. "Right, your question?"

"You sound like you're from the North. So, does every planet have a North or is there some other reason?" Rose asked.

"Lots of planets have a North." The Doctor told her as the sound of melting plastic hit her ears, Rose glanced around the Doctor to look at the console.

"Um, Doctor, the head's melting." Rose told him.

"What?" The Doctor asked spinning to look at the console. "Aw, no, no, no, no!" He cried running over to the melting head, dragging her with him since he had yet to let go of her hand. Not that you'd catch her complaining about that, mind you. The Doctor began to quickly hit buttons and flip switches, all while holding her hand. Rose had to stamp down the urge to help him. He had technically just met her, he didn't know her or trust her enough to allow her to touch the controls to his ship.

"Have we lost the signal?" Rose asked.

"No, but it's fading!" The Doctor told her as the TARDIS began to dematerialize. "Wait a minute. I've got it." He told her. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Almost there, almost there. Here we go!" The Doctor cried as the TARDIS materialized else where. Rose allowed the Doctor to lead her, by the hand, out of the TARDIS. "I lost the signal. I got so close!" He growled out as he forced them to start pacing, she refused to let go of his hand and he seemed to have forgotten he was still holding her hand.

"We've moved." Rose said, knowing it would be suspicious if she didn't at least say something about it. "It doesn't fly? Does it?"

"It disappears there and reappears here." The Doctor told her distracted, and Rose knew that his mind was racing to try and figure out how to find the Nestene Consciousness.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the headless body has melted along with the head." Rose said as they leaned up against the wall separating the street from the river.

"Are you going to witter on all night?" The Doctor snapped at her and Rose felt her hackles rice. It wasn't her fault that he had lost the signal, he didn't need to take his frustration out on her!

"Hey! I'm just trying to make sense of all this! 'Cause unlike you, I don't do this every day!" Rose snapped back at him before her thoughts turned to Mickey. And even though she knew he was going to be physically alright, he was no doubt scared out of his mind. "Poor Mickey." She muttered causing the Doctor to look at her in confusion. "Mickey, the person the living plastic was trying to mimic. You forgot about that didn't you?"

"Look if I did forget some kid called Mickey..." The Doctor growled out.

"He's not a kid." Rose snapped back automatically.

"... it's because I'm trying save the life of every stupid ape blundering about on this planet, all right?" The Doctor continued as if he hadn't heard her.

"All right!" Rose cried.

"Yes, it is!" The Doctor growled as the two stood there glaring at each other while panting. Their augments had always been fierce and passionate.

"And, this living plastic, what's it got against us?" Rose asked trying to bring them back to the problem at hand.

"Nothing. It loves you. You've got such a good planet, lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air. Perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war," Rose had to fight from tensing up at the mention of the Time War knowing that it was still fresh for him, "it's protein planets rotted. So Earth. Dinner." The Doctor finished while miming eating.

"Right, so how do we find it?" Rose asked and the Doctor snapped his head around and continued looking.

"How can you hide something that big in a city this small?"

"Hide what?" Rose asked.

"The transmitter!" The Doctor snapped at her, as if having expected her to have already figured it out. "The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."

"What's it look like?" Rose asked him letting her eyes roam the street around them.

"Like a transmitter!" The Doctor told her and Rose gave him a blank look. Even though she knew what the transmitter was, to be able to point it out to him without looking suspicious she needed just a little more information from him. "Round and massive, somewhere slap-bang in the middle of London. A huge, metal, circular structure like a dish, like a wheel, radial."

"Oh, you mean that?" Rose asked pointing to the Eye of London that was across the river from them. The Doctor turned to look at the Eye of London before looking back at her.

"Oh." The Doctor said before pulling releasing her hand to gently grab her face and kiss her. "Fantastic!" He cried once he broke away from the kiss as he took her hand in his again before they took off running to the Eye of London.

"Think of it. Plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to be alive." The Doctor panted out once they made it to the Eye. "The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables."

"The breast implants." Rose joked with a smirk causing the Doctor to shake his head at her with a small smile. If only Jack were here, he would have jumped right onto that joke and rode it as far as he could. The image that thought just created caused her to blush. She had hung around Jack way too much.

"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath." The Doctor told her as Rose looked around for the hatch that would lead them to the underground sewer. Rose dropped the Doctor's hand, receiving a worried look from the man, as she ran towards the ledge over looking the river shore.

"What about down here?" Rose called to the Doctor and seconds later was joined by him.

"Looks good to me." He told her taking her hand and led her towards the hatch. The Doctor quickly opened it and they carefully climbed down the ladder, the Doctor going first. At the bottom, the Doctor helped her down all while looking around the small room. They made their way to the only door out of the room and opened it as quietly as it would let them. They walked onto a metal landing leading off to rickety metal stairs in a huge room. "The Nestene Consciousness." The Doctor told her nodding his head to the giant red-orange blob inside a vat. "That's it, inside the vat, a living plastic creature."

"Right, so, I'm sure you have a back up plan encase talking with it doesn't work?" Rose asked as she searched the huge room for Mickey.

"Why'd you think I was going to talk to it first instead of killing it?" The Doctor asked.

"If you did that, then what would make you better than it?" Rose whispered back causing the Doctor to smile at her before he pulled out a small vial of bright blue liquid.

"Would you like to try and guess what's in here?" The Doctor teased shaking the vial.

"I'm guessing that since the Nestene Consciousness is plastic that that vial holds something called a very literal name, say Anti-Plastic?" Rose 'guessed' causing the Doctor to look at her in shock. "What?"

"That's right. This is Anti-plastic. This is a very literal name because it's used on plastic and is supposed to melt-" Rose kissed him again, stopping him from rambling.

"Sorry, but we don't have time for you to ramble right now." She whispered against his lips, liking this new way of stopping the Doctor's long-winded ramblings.

"Yes, right, sorry." The Doctor mumbled taking her hand in his once more before leading her down the stairs of the scaffolding towards the Nestene Consciousness. "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to Convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation." The Nestene Consciousness gargled out a reply as Rose's eyes landed on Mickey huddled in a corner. "Thank you. If I might have permission to approach." The Nestene Consciousness gargled once more, giving them consent.

"Mickey!" Rose cried, releasing the Doctor's hand to rush to Mickey, allowing him to focus on the Nestene Consciousness.

"Rose!" Mickey cried out and latched on to her the second she was close enough. "That thing, down there... The liquid, Rose, it can talk!" Mickey told her as he clung to her.

"I know. But you're fine. Everything is going to be alright. The Doctor will make sure of it." Rose told him as the Doctor walked by them, glaring at Mickey, jealousy clear in his eyes. Rose lovingly rolled her eyes at him before standing up to get a good view of his conference with the Nestene Consciousness, ready to jump in and save him like last time.

"Am I addressing the Consciousness?" The Doctor asked coming to a stop just above the open vat. "Thank you. If I may observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?" The Doctor said with a smirk causing Rose to giggle at his little joke. Hearing her, the Doctor glanced at her with a wink before focusing back on the Nestene Consciousness when it growled at him.

"Oh don't give me that!" The Doctor growled back. "This is an invasion, plan and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights." The Nestene Consciousness hissed and growled while flailing about in the vat, clearly agitated. "I AM TALKING!" The Doctor roared at it causing the Nestene Consciousness to stop. "This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learned how to walk. But they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf, please, just go."

"Doctor!" Rose yelled as a couple of dummies ran up behind him and grabbed him as the Nestene Consciousness hissed and growled. One of the dummies reached into the Doctor's jacket and pulled out the vial of Anti-Plastic.

"That was just insurance! I wasn't gonna use it!" The Doctor cried as the Nestene Consciousness hissed and growled louder. "I was not attacking you! I'm here to help! I'm not your enemy, I swear, I'm not!" The Nestene Consciousness continued to hiss and growl. "What do you mean?" A door beside Rose and Mickey opened to reveal the TARDIS.

"Right, Mickey, you'll be safe in there." Rose whispered to Mickey before pushing him towards the TARDIS, knowing that it was about time to save the Doctor. Mickey ran to the TARDIS, expecting Rose to follow him while she ran towards the chain she had used last time.

"No, no, no! Honestly, no." The Doctor cried out as she grabbed the axe and waited. Watching the Doctor and the Nestene Consciousness for the perfect time to save the Doctor. "Yes, that's my ship." The Nestene Consciousness squealed harshly at him. "That's not true! I should know, I was there. I fought in the wars. It wasn't my fault!" The Doctor cried and Rose flinched at the mention of the Time War. "I couldn't save your world. I couldn't save any of them.

"Right, time to end this. Once again, I haven't got my A-levels, I fell in love with a Time Traveling Alien, got left. And now I'm reliving my time with the Doctor. But hey, I still have a bronze in Gymnastics." Rose muttered to herself as she swung at the chain, easily cutting it from the wall with the help of Bad Wolf. She quickly dropped the axe, took hold of the chain and swung towards the Doctor and the two dummies. The Doctor used that distraction to toss the dummy that was holding him into the Nestene Consciousness, destroying the dummy. Rose kicked the dummy that held the vial of Anti-Plastic into the Nestene Consciousness.

"Rose!" The Doctor yelled as the Nestene Consciousness began to crack, he quickly grabbed her on her swing back. He held her as close to him as he could, his eyes roaming over her, checking her for injuries. The Nestene Consciousness whined, pulling their attention away from each other and back to it. "Now we're in trouble!" The Doctor told her with a large grin on his face before taking her hand and leading her as quickly as he could to the TARDIS, pulling out the key with his free hand. The room began to explode as the Doctor rushed to unlock the TARDIS. Once the TARDIS was unlocked, the Doctor kicked Mickey inside before pulling Rose in after himself.

Mickey huddled near the door, eyes wide in shock and fear as he took in the TARDIS for the first time. Rose and the Doctor quickly passed him towards the console where the Doctor began the dematerialization sequence. Rose couldn't stop the annoyance that filled her when Mickey whimpered in fear, she knew that he would get used to it, but it still annoyed her that Mickey was afraid of the TARDIS. She lightly smiled when the TARDIS nudged against her mind soothingly, letting her knew that she wasn't offended by Mickey's reaction. Even reminding her of Rose's first reaction to seeing her the first time.

After they had materialized in the back alley behind her building, Rose let go of the Doctor's hand to walk over to the doors and open it. She sighed lightly when Mickey, in his haste to leave the TARDIS, pushed her out of the way. Rose rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone to call her mum, knowing that she had been out shopping when all this happened.

"Rose, don't go out of the house, it's not safe!" Was the first thing her mother told her and Rose laughed before hanging up on her. Her mother was safe, that's all she needed to know.

"Fat lot of good you were!" Rose growled out to Mickey, making her way over to the man trying to hide behind some rubbish. She grabbed Mickey's arms and started to try and pull him up. He whimpered and pointed behind them. Rose looked over and smiled at the Doctor.

"Nestene Conspicuousness? Easy!" The Doctor said proudly.

"You were useless in there! You'd be dead if it weren't for me." She told him playfully. The loving look he gave her caused her heart to skip a few beats.

"Yes, I would." The Doctor admitted. "Thank you." Rose bit her lip to keep herself from running over to him and kissing him. This was when he was going to ask her to join him, she had to get ready to deny him and make him come back to ask her once more.

"Right, then. I'll be off. Unless... I don't know." The Doctor looked nervous. "You could come with me." He said trying to sound nonchalant, Rose felt her heart stop, knowing that she had to tell him no, that she had to get him to come back. "This box isn't just a London-op, but you already knew that. It goes anywhere in the Universe. Free of charge."

"Don't!" Mickey cried, latching onto her legs, nearly causing her to fall. "He's an alien. He's a thing."

"He's not invited." The Doctor growled out, eyes flashing in jealousy as he glared at Mickey. Rose had always found the Doctor quite sexy when he was jealous. His eyes locked on to hers, and the smoldering look that he held in them causing her to gulp. "What do you think?"

_Remember, My Wolf, you have to make his ask twice._  The TARDIS sung in her head. Rose opened her mouth to deny him, but the words got caught in her throat as fear gripped her.  _He will come back. I promise, My Wolf. He will always come back for you._

"You could stay here. Fill you life with work and food and sleep," The Doctor told her, and Rose knew he was trying to tempt her into coming with him. Rose bit her lip. He'd come back to her. "Or you could go... Anywhere. With me." He finished.

"Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked finally getting her mouth to work properly.

"Yeah." The Doctor smirked at her flirtatiously. Mickey tightened his hold on her, reminding her that he was there.

"Yeah, I can't." She chocked out, forcing herself not to tear up at the heart broken look in the Doctor's shocked eyes. He hadn't expected her to deny him. With all the kissing and hand holding and cuddling they had done, the Doctor had expected her to instantly accept. It tore her up inside. "I've, um, I've gotta go and, um, find my mum" Her throat tightened up as she continued to fight from tearing up. Realization flashed through his eyes, he had realized she actually did want to go but was keeping herself from agreeing. "And someone's gotta look after this stupid lump, so..."

"Okay." The Doctor said, once again glaring at Mickey. "See you around." He said locking watery eyes with her before slowly backing into the TARDIS and shutting the door, as if to give her time to change her mind. Rose forced herself to stay where she was. She gave a shuttering breath as the TARDIS began to dematerialize.

"Right. Listen, we don't have much time." Rose told Mickey forcing him to stand, using a little of the strength she had gained from Bad Wolf, shocking Mickey. "No, shush." She ordered when Mickey began to open his mouth to question her.

"First things first: I love you Mickey, but I'm not in love with you like you are with me. So, I'm breaking up with you. Shush." She ordered when Mickey went to object. "Next, when he comes back, I'm going to go with him. You, Mickey, will then go to my flat, give my mum this when she returns." She quickly dug in her bag and pulled out the letter she had written the night before and handed it to him. "I'm going to be gone a year. Don't worry. Tell my mum I'll call her whenever I can. I have my passport. Mickey, I'm trusting you with this." Mickey could do nothing but look at her in shock and nod. Seconds later the TARDIS materialized in the same spot it had just been a few minutes ago. The Doctor poked his head out of the TARDIS.

"By the way, I know you've already figured this out, but she is also a Time Machine." He told her with a smile. Rose smiled at him before running into the TARDIS never looking back.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four-**

Rose ran into the TARDIS and straight into the Doctor's awaiting arms. She laughed loudly and hugged him close. She was finally home! "Right then, Rose Tyler, you tell me, where do you wanna go?" The Doctor asked as Rose began to spin them causing them to laugh. "Backwards or forwards in time? It's your choice. What's it gonna be?"

"First, why don't you set the TARDIS to drift between time and space-"

"The vortex." The Doctor corrected her, not even sounding surprised.

"Ya, the vortex, so that we can get to know each other, that way we can trust each other a little more." Rose said.

"But that's so... domestic." The Doctor whined.

"Oh hush, you. I'm not talking about sitting down in front of a fire with cups of tea to chat our lives away. We'll just say ten words or phrases that describe us. This way we learn about each other without giving too much away-" Rose stared.

"-Making it a mini mystery to solve!" The Doctor cried out joyously.

"Exactly! So how 'bout it?" Rose asked. Her answer was the Doctor letting her go so that he could set the TARDIS to drift in the vortex.

"Right, you first." The Doctor said once they were adrift, leaning back against the console watching her.

"Okay." Rose said and began to walk around the room, thinking of what she could say without him catching on to what was happening. She smiled when the TARDIS began to sing her some words and phrases. "Puzzle, loved and left, stars, pink and yellow, loop-de-loop mixed with timey-wimey stuff, shop-girl, no dad, human, Rose Tyler: Defender Of The Earth, and Bad Wolf."

"Some of those phrases seem to be a bit too advanced for an ape." The Doctor said slightly suspicious but Rose laughed and waved it off.

"Maybe, but you said it yourself, I'm odd." Rose told him playfully causing the Doctor to smile at her.

"That you are, Rose Tyler." He agreed.

"Your turn." Rose said walking over to him before hopping to a stop in front of him.

"TARDIS, time traveler, alone, leather jacket, Last Time Lord, Gallifrey, regeneration, telepathic, timelines, paradoxes." The Doctor told her and Rose hummed in thought.

"Do you have a library I could use to look some of those words up." She asked playfully causing the Doctor to laugh. "Right, let's see if I can guess what any of that meant."

"Go ahead." The Doctor said, his tone telling her that he didn't believe she could guess half of it right.

"I'm guessing that you are a Time Lord from 'Gallifrey', we've already established that you're an alien which means we need a species and a planet to go with it. Gallifrey sounds like the perfect name for a planet that would hold the Time Lord species on it. You said you were the 'Last Time Lord' and spoke of a war while conversing with the Nestene Consciousness, so putting those two facts together leads me to believe that there was a war that destroyed the rest of your people leaving you the sole survivor, which would explain the 'alone'." Rose paused to think up of a good way to explain the rest of his words and phrases.

"I'm going to say that the Time Lord species are 'telepathic' and watch over 'timelines' to prevent 'paradoxes', hence the name Time Lords. 'Regenerations' has something to do with you becoming new because regenerate means 're-grow' or 'bring into renewed existence'. When we first met, you didn't seem to recognize your own face in the mirror, which leads me to believe that 'regenerations' for you mean that you change your face and personalities, or close to it.

"'Time traveler' is easy. You've already confirmed more than once that the TARDIS can travel through time. So you use your 'TARDIS' to travel through time becoming a 'Time traveler'. And last but not least: 'leather jacket'. That one is also easy, you said it because you wear this leather jacket all the time-" Rose was cut off when the Doctor pulled her into a kiss. "I wasn't rambling." She whispered against his lips.

"Neither was I the last time." The Doctor told her before giving her one last kiss. "Right, my turn to guess your words and phrases."

"It's only fair." Rose told him with a smile.

"I'm going to do them in the order you said, just telling you ahead of time." He told her with a smirk causing Rose to laugh. "You're a 'puzzle' to be put together 'cause one second you seem to have no idea what is going on and the next you do. You drop hints at every turn and yet at the same time say nothing about you. 'Loved and left' probably means that you fell in love and that person left you, and the way you said it told me that it wasn't mutual for either party. 'Stars', I'm guessing, has been something you wanted to see when you got older. A dream for the child in you.

"'Pink and yellow' seems to be easy enough, from the clothes you're wearing today and the ones you were wearing yesterday, and then there was all the pink in your room, I'd say that pink is your favorite color. Your hair is blonde. So, favorite color is pink and blonde hair, you're a pink and yellow girl. And the way you said it with a soft smile, it's probably a nick name.

"'Loop-de-loop mixed with timey-wimey stuff' was confusing until I looked into your timeline. Your timeline loops around before settling, but there was no way you could know that. Which leaves me to believe it means something else entirely." Rose tried not to smirk at that, really she did, so she hugged the Doctor and hid her face in his chest.

"'Shop-girl' is self-explanatory 'cause you were a girl that worked in a shop. 'No dad' means that your father died when you were young. 'Human' 'cause you're a tiny human being from Earth. 'Rose Tyler: Defender of Earth' is most-likely an inside joke with a close friend, probably from a time you were young and played a game where you had to defend the Earth from some evil aliens, which coupled with your dream of flying through the stars is most likely where the game came from.

"Last but not least is 'Bad Wolf' which has me stumped. I would say it was another nickname, but the slight tremor in your voice when you said it leads me to believe that whatever led you to having that name wasn't good. It frightened you, frightens you still. And yet you claim the name, which means that the name itself isn't what frightens you, but what led you to getting it." The Doctor theorized. Rose hummed trying to force back the memories of the Game Station and the knowledge that she would have to go through it once more.

"I lost someone dear to me that day." Rose muttered, she felt the Doctor tighten his grip on her.

"I'm sorry." He whispered to her. Rose shoved the painful memories away, no need to dwell on the past, or well the future now. Rose smiled at him as she stepped away.

"Don't be. I still have my fantastic memories of my time with him. And it's not as if he has truly left me, all I have to do is call up my memories of him and he's once again with me." Rose told the Doctor receiving an awed look from him.

"Not many people see it that way." The Doctor whispered to her, and she knew he was part of the people who saw it differently than her.

"I used to not see it this way, at least not until years later." Rose told him. "Any way, I think that's enough for the domestics. Earlier, you asked me where I wanted to go."

"Right, so where do you wanna go? Past or Future?" The Doctor asked catching onto the fact that she didn't wish to speak on that subject anymore.

"Forwards." Rose said with a smirk watching as the Doctor began to power the TARDIS up.

"How far?" He asked matching her smirk.

"Is a hundred years too far?" Rose asked teasingly. The Doctor playfully glared at her before setting the TARDIS down a hundred years from her time.

"There you go! Step outside those doors, it's the 22nd century." The Doctor told her with a smirk. "But that's too boring for you Rose, don't you think. I'm sure you'd want to go further."

"Only if you can handle it." Rose said playfully as the Doctor began to pump in some coordinates

"Oh, Rose, you'll soon learn I can handle more than you think." He told her with a wink.

"Whatever you say, Doctor." Rose flirted back.

"Ten thousand years in the future." The Doctor told her when they landed, his eyes never leaving hers. "Step outside, it's the year 12005. The new Roman Empire." Rose knew she needed to get him to take her to the End of the Earth.

"You think you're so impressive." Rose teased with a smirk, knowing exactly which buttons to press.

"I am so impressive!" The Doctor cried out not expecting that reaction from her.

"Then show me something impressive." Rose challenged playfully.

"Right then. You asked for it. I know exactly where to go." The Doctor growled out before inputting the coordinates for the End of the Earth and Rose smirked. "Hold on!" The Doctor ordered as they flew through the rift, the TARDIS rumbling and shaking.

"Did you pass your test to drive her?" Rose asked playfully as she gripped the console to keep from falling over.

"Nope! Just took her and Ran." The Doctor told her.

"So do you just grab all your girls and run?" Rose asked.

"Just the special ones." He told her with a smirk and a wink causing her to laugh as they landed.

"Where are we?" Rose asked even though she knew, she knew that he loved this part and didn't want to deny him this. The Doctor just smirked at her and motioned for her to go and see. Rose smiled at him before taking off towards the door.

The second she stepped out into the viewing room, her smile slid off her face as the darker parts of this trip from the first time flew through her mind. The deaths, the fighting with the Doctor, nearly getting burned up, Cassandra. Rose was snapped back to reality when the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and over to the control panel by the door while pulling out his screwdriver.

Rose soaked up the beauty of the planet in front of her as the metal panel that had been covering the window lowered. In a few minutes the sun would expand and the Earth would be destroyed. The Doctor made his way over to her and took her hand.

"You lot... you spend all your time thinking about dying. How you're gonna get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible. That maybe you survive." The Doctor told her softly as she leaned her head against his shoulder. "This is the year 5.5 slash Apple slash 26. Five billion years in your future. And this is the day... Hold on." He glanced at his watch and two seconds later the sun expanded. Rose could now admit that the expanding sun was beautiful.

"This is the day the sun expands." Rose finished softly in awe.

"Welcome to the end of the world." He whispered to her. The two of them stood in front of the window watching the Earth, well she was watching the Earth while he was watching her. She could feel his stare, and it actually made her happy. Him staring at her as softly as he was made this feel more as a date than the last time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five-**

"Shuttles five and six now docking." An Automated voice announced cutting into their comfortable silence and startling Rose. The Doctor sighed before taking her hand and leading her out of the room to meet the other guests. "Guests are reminded that Platform One forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth-death is scheduled for 15:39, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite."

"When it says 'guest', does it mean people or aliens?" Rose asked wrapping her free arm around his smiling up at him.

"Depends on what you mean by people." The Doctor laughed, squeezing her hand slightly.

"Well, are they earthlings or from further out." Rose clarified before a thought hit her. "Or would I be the alien since I'm from 21st century Earth?" The Doctor laughed at that as he pulled them to a stop and pulled her into a hug, resting his forehead on hers with a soft hum.

"They will be aliens to you." He told her softly as she began to sway them, loving the feeling of his arms around her. He was so much more open with her this time around, touching her more and telling her more. Rose smiled lovingly at him, she liked this side of her Doctor. "You will look like a human to them. Don't worry so much."

"So what are we doing here? This isn't a spaceship. It looks to me more like an observation desk. So what's this all for?" Rose asked.

"You and your questions." The Doctor teased her before placing a soft kiss on her lips. "The great and good are gathering to watch the planet burn." He told her as he continued to lead her down the corridor.

"What for? Fun?" Rose asked.

"Exactly. Let's go meet the other guests." The Doctor said reluctantly pulling his arm from her to use his screwdriver to open the doors to the observation room.

"When you say 'great and good' you really mean the rich, don't you?" Rose asked as they entered the massive observation room. It was just as beautiful as Rose remembered it, all marble and arches.

"That's right." The Doctor said, beaming down at her, she answered him with her own smile.

"You know." Rose said as they came to a stop at the far end of the room, looking out over the Earth. "I read once about this very thing. They said that the time it would take the sun to expand to this level would take thousands, if not millions of years to accomplish."

"That's true." He said before pointing towards the satellites orbiting the Earth. "You see those little things out there? Gravity satellites holding the sun back. The planet has been property of the National Trust for many years."

"So if they're letting this happen, does that mean that the money has run out?" Rose asked leaning her head against his shoulder. "How long's the Earth got?" Rose asked as the Doctor looked at his watch.

"About half an hour. Then the planet gets roasted." The Doctor informed her.

"I thought that the continents moved. So why does it look like that? Did the Trust move them back?"

"That's a classic Earth, right there." The Doctor told her excitedly.

"What happened to the people?" She asked hoping that the answer would still be the same.

"All gone." He smiled at her reassuringly. "No one's left. You lot have already left to the far reaches of space."

"Who the hell are you?" The steward asked coming into the room causing both of them to spin on the balls of their feet and look at the blue alien dressed in a dull gold suit and cap.

"Oh, that's nice. Thanks." The Doctor said sarcastically.

"But how did you get in?" The steward asked. "This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guest have disembarked! They're on their way any second..." The Doctor quickly pulled out his psychic-paper.

"No! That's me. I'm a guest. Look, I've got an invitation." The Doctor said showing the steward the psychic-paper. "Look, there you see? It's fine. You see? 'The Doctor, plus one.' I'm the Doctor, this is Rose Tyler, she's my 'plus one'." The Doctor told the steward proudly. "Is that all right?"

"Well, obviously." The steward said awkwardly. "Apologies, et cetera. If you're on board, we'd better start. Enjoy." He added stiffly before walking away.

"The paper's slightly psychic. It shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time." The Doctor said handing Rose the paper. Rose stared at the blank paper in shock, the last time the Doctor had handed her the paper, it had looked like an invitation.

"But it's blank." Rose told him shocking him. The Doctor carefully took the paper back from her before holding it up to her.

"Are you telling me you can't see anything on this paper?" The Doctor asked and Rose shook her head.

"It's blank." Rose informed him.

"Rose Tyler, you are either really clever, psychic, or not human." The Doctor told her.

"Let's go with psychic." Rose joked causing the Doctor to chuckle.

"I was leaning more towards clever. If you were psychic, I would feel you up here." The Doctor said tapping his head with a smirk and Rose playfully stuck her tongue at him.

"What species?" Rose asked nodding her head toward the steward as he began to make announcements at his podium.

"Crespallion." The Doctor informed her.

"We have in attendance, the Doctor and Rose Tyler!" The steward announced and they waved at him. "Thank you. All staff to their positions." He said clapping before child sized blue aliens began to enter and leave the room. "Hurry now! Thank you! Quick as we can, come along, come along!" Once everyone was where they needed to be the steward continued.

"And now, might I introduce the next honored guest representing the Forest of Cheem, we have trees. Namely Jabe, Lute and Coffa." The main doors to the observation room opened and three human trees walked in. And now that Rose wasn't confused and slightly scared while trying to act as if she wasn't, she could easily see that Jabe was gorgeous.

_Do not let her get his breath, My Wolf. It will save her from a painful death._  The TARDIS sung to her.

"There will be an exchange of gifts, representing peace." The Steward announced and Rose quickly dug through her bag. She smiled happily when she found the small sowing kit in there and pulled out the scissors.

"What are you doing?" The Doctor asked in confusion.

"Getting ready to exchange gifts." Rose informed him with a smile.

"Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon." The Steward announced as a small, chubby light blue alien rode into the room. The Doctor and Rose nodded to him. "And next, from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme." A group of tall robots covered in black, head to toe robes walked in as one. Rose felt the Doctor look at her and looked over at him with a smile.

"The inventors of the hyposlip travel systems, the brothers Hop Pyleen! Thank you." The room quickly began to fill up with all the other guests. And even though she had already lived through this once, it still amazed her and slightly overwhelmed her.

"The gift of peace. I bring you a cutting of my grandfather." Jabe said holding out a small sapling. The Doctor took it with a small bow.

"Thank you. And we give you a cutting of myself." Rose said quickly snipping off a small piece of her hair and placing it in Jabe's open hand with a smile. Jabe gave her a smile, but Rose could see she was disappointed.

"You didn't have to give her your hair, I could have figured out something to give her." The Doctor told her grabbing the cut piece of hair that stood out from the longer pieces around it.

"What, like the air from your lungs?" Rose teased nudging him playfully while taking the sapling from him. "No, I'm sorry, that's too intimate for someone you just met."

"And what, a piece of your hair isn't?" The Doctor asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Nope. The air from your lungs is much more intimate. Especially for trees." Rose told him.

"The sponsor from the main event, please welcome The Face of Boe." Rose and the Doctor looked away from each other to watch The Face of Boe be wheeled in. Rose blinked, she could have sworn she just saw him wink at her.

"The Moxx of Balhoon." The Doctor greeted as the Moxx rode up to them.

"My felicitations up this historical happenstance. I bring you the gift of bodily salivas." He said before spitting at her, Rose quickly held up her hand and let the spit hit it before it could land on her face like last time.

"Thank you. And I bring you the gift of a High-five." Rose said handing the Doctor the sapling again before using her now empty, spit-free hand to lightly slap the Moxx on the arm. She kept her smile on her face until he rode away and wiped the spit of on the Doctor's maroon shirt. "What it's not like we don't still have his gift." Rose said when the Doctor gave her a look.

"Why my shirt?" The Doctor asked.

"Cause I didn't want it on mine." Rose said giving him the smile just for him.

"Ah! The adherents of the Repeated Meme!" The Doctor greeted when the group of robots got to them. "I bring you air from my lungs." The Doctor said before Rose could stop him and he breathed on them. They said nothing, only holding out the metal ball that Rose knew held the robot spiders that would wreck havoc to the station. Rose took the ball and watched them glide away as her mind raced to figure out how to save as many people as she could. She knew she wouldn't be able to save all of them, but one or two more alive at the end wouldn't been too bad.

"Representing the Torchwood Repository of Blaidd Drwg." The steward said catching both Rose and the Doctor's attention. Rose stared at him in confusion, this person hadn't been here the last time. "The Curator, Matt Smith. The Torchwood Repository was kind enough to donate the artifacts and artwork displayed in today's historic event." The doors opened to show a young man with dark brown hair swept neatly to the side wearing a light brown tweed jacket and a TARDIS blue bow tie. He smiled at the room excitedly as he bounded into the room like an excited puppy. Something about him drew her in, something familiar and safe.

Rose's attention was ripped away from the strangely familiar young man when the Doctor growled dark and low while releasing her hand only to wrap his arm around her and pull her flush against his side. Rose looked at him in concern and found him glaring at the Curator who seemed to be having a nice little chat with the Face of Boe. As if feeling them, the Curator turned his head to look at them, well at her. Something flashed through his eyes as the Doctor's arm around her tightened almost possessively. The Curator smirked before turning his attention back to the Face of Boe.

Rose and the Doctor continued to accept gifts from the brothers Hop Plyeen, Cal Spark Plug, Mr. and Mrs. Pakoo and the Ambassadors from the City of Binding Light. Rose relaxed against the Doctor as the guest circled, but his possessive arm around her never left. Rose greeted them with a smile, like an old pro who belonged in the circles of the great and rich. All too soon, however, the Curator was before them and the Doctor was once again growling dark and low.

Before either of them could react to stop him, the Curator had reached out and gently took one of Rose's hands in both of his. His wide, friendly smile turned loving as he lifted her small hand to his lips, placing a kiss on her knuckles. The Doctor growled and snatched Rose's hand from the Curator's while glaring at him. Rose knew that the Doctor was staking his claim over her and couldn't stop the smile forming on her lips. The Curator just smirked at the Doctor before turning his attention back to her.

"My Lady Tyler," The Curator beamed, "Always a pleasure to see you. You look absolutely radiant, but than, you've always looked radiant to me." Rose tried not to show her confusion at his statement as she tried to recall her memories of her first trip with the Doctor. Had they met this man at one point? He seemed to know her quite well.

"And you as well, my good sir." Rose told him politely, trying not to give away that she had no idea who his was. The Curator gave her a secret smile, his eyes dancing with laughter as if they had just shared an inside joke.

"Why thank you, Lady Tyler, it is always so good to hear you praise my look. Though I admit, I did dress up a little. I got a new bow tie and everything." The Curator told her proudly.

"It's lovely. The perfect shade of blue and everything." Rose told him and he preened.

"Your gift, sir?" The Doctor growled out darkly.

"Of course, my gift is the gift of a kiss." The Curator said and Rose's eyes widened in shock. This man was going to kiss her!? The Curator reached out and, shockingly to both her and the Doctor, took hold of the Doctor's face before pulling him down into a chase kiss. And then he left without a return gift. Rose and the Doctor stared after him in absolute shock. What. Just. Happened? The Doctor and Rose looked at each other. And Rose couldn't help it, really she couldn't. She laughed.

"And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and gentlemen and trees and multiforms, consider the Earth, below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last human." The Steward announced and Rose had to stop herself from tensing up. "The Lady Casandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."

"Oh, now don't stare! I know, I know. It's shocking, isn't it?" Casandra said as she was rolled in and Rose felt and heard Bad Wolf growling in the back of her mind as memories of everything that Casandra put not only her but the Doctor through flew threw her mind. Rose glared at the piece of skin that was hung on a rack, and Rose nearly gasp when she felt something that wasn't the TARDIS brush up against her mind in a calming manner.

"I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference! Look how thin I am. Thin and dainty!" Casandra continued. "I don't look a day over 2,000. Moisturize me, moisturize me!" The two surgeon looking men with Casandra moved to spray the talking trampoline with water as she smiled coyly at the room. Rose wanted to walk over to her and slap her, but right now she had no reason to actually hate the woman, she had yet to actually do anything.

"Truly, I am the last human." Casandra lamented causing Rose to roll her eyes. "My father was a Texan, my mother was from the Arctic desert. They were born on the Earth and they were the last to be buried in its soil. I have come to honor them and say good bye." Casandra's voice broke a little. Rose honestly tried to fight the snort that flew out of her mouth, but she couldn't. And she hadn't been the only one, as a louder snort covered hers. She, along with everyone else, turned to look at the Curator who was now rubbing his nose.

"Sorry, tried to stop it. But you know sneezes." The Curator said with a wide smirk before throwing a wink at Rose. But Casandra carried on as if the small interruption had never happened.

"Oh, no tears. I'm sorry." She said as one of the surgeons gently dabbed her under her eyes with a cloth while the doors opened again. "I'm sorry. But behold, I bring gifts. From the Earth itself, the last remaining ostrich egg." Casandra began to tell them about how the ostrich was a fire breathing giant. Rose was able to keep in her snort this time as she leaned up and teased the curve of one of the Doctor's fine ears.

"She calls her self the last human, and yet she doesn't even know her own history? A fifty foot, fire breathing ostrich? Are we sure she's human, she looks more like what would happen if a human reproduced with a trampoline." Rose joked before snapping her head around to look at the Curator, who was across the room, when snorted once more, but this time including a spit take as well.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just finally understood a joke told to me a while ago." The Curator assured the other guests while patting his chest. The Face of Boe, who was next to the Curator, gave a strange sound, almost as if he was laughing. Once again, Casandra ignored him.

The Doctor glared at the Curator as Casandra spoke of her second gift. A Juke box that she called an 'iPod'. Rose, the Doctor, and the Curator giggled at that.

"Play on!" Casandra ordered and 'Tainted Love' began to play. Rose smiled up at the Doctor when he began to dance to the music.

"Refreshments will now be served." The Steward announced. "Earth-death in 30 minutes."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six-**

Rose didn't know what happened, honestly. One second she was dancing and having the time of her life with the Doctor and the next him and her were yelling at each other in the private observation room they landed in. Rose huffed out angrily as she stood glaring out the window her back facing the angry and pacing Doctor. Her mind raced to figure out what had happened.

She remembered the Curator coming to ask for a dance with the Doctor, and dragging the man away from Rose before either of them could say anything. And then Jabe had taken the time it took for the Doctor to get away from the Curator to scan her with some strange device. And then, suddenly and shockingly, she had had what seemed to be a minor panic attack and had run from the room.

What Rose couldn't understand was the minor panic attack she had had. It was almost as if, for that split-second, her younger mind had taken over. Rose sighed and ran a hand down her face. She remembered suddenly feeling overwhelmed by everything, just as she had the first time. And, just as he had done the first time, the Doctor had run after her, though a lot quicker this time. And then they had gotten into a fight because she had refused to tell him what had happened to her. But how could she tell him something she didn't know! But she had to tell him something, had to make up a reason.

"They're just so alien!" Rose suddenly found herself saying. The sound of the Doctor stopping his pacing got her to look at him, he was giving her a confused look. "The aliens are so alien." He now had a slightly hurt look in his eyes. "I mean, I knew they would, but at the same time I didn't. And I thought I was okay, I really did or I would have told you. But then, I don't know." Rose told him with a sigh and hugged herself. They stood there for half a second like that before the Doctor reacted.

"Oh, Rose." He breathed out before striding over to her and pulled her into a hug. Rose relaxed and hugged him back, and smiled when she felt his tense muscles relax as well. "Good thing I didn't take you to the deep south." He joked causing her to laugh. "We can leave if you want. I can take you some where less Alien-y."

"We're already here though, might as well ride it out." Rose told him with a sigh, she wasn't going to run off and let all these innocent people die.

"I don't want you to have to force yourself to be fine around these people when they unnerve you." The Doctor said tightening his hold on her.

"They don't unnerve me." Rose tried to argue.

"You just had a panic attack Rose!" The Doctor shot back.

"Not because of them!" She responded without thought.

"Then by what? If it's not them that has unnerved you then what, or should I ask who?" The Doctor demanded, his arms dropping from her as if she had just burned him before taking a half step away from her. His blue eyes hard and cold as he glared at her. But Rose knew that his anger was just a mask to hide the hurt he was feeling.

"You don't unnerve me, Doctor! Never have! Never will!" She cried to him reaching for him, only to have him back away again.

"Then what, Rose, is unnerving you if not me or the guests." The Doctor growled out.

"Many things! I know we joked about the Earth revolving around you, Doctor, but not everything that is happening is because of you! I'm tired and I had a small panic attack as everything that has happened finally sank in. I left my mum and my best mate to travel with the most frustratingly annoying man in the universe. And you know what Doctor! I don't regret it!" Rose yelled at him, tears in her eyes by the end of her rant. She took a few deep breaths, she needed to calm not only herself down but also the Doctor.

"All right." She continued calmer now, cutting the Doctor off before he could say whatever he had been about to say, and Rose knew that whatever it had been would have most definitely continued the argument. "As my mate Shireen says, 'Don't argue with the designated driver.'" The Doctor rolled his eyes and fought off a small smile. "Can't exactly call for a taxi. There's no signal." Rose joked pulling out her mobile from her back pocket to look at it. "We're out of range. Just a bit." That got the Doctor laughing.

"Tell you what," The Doctor said stepping back up to her and gently took the phone from her, "with a little bit of jiggery-pokery." He popped off the back of her mobile and pulled out the battery.

"Is that a technical term, 'jiggery-pokery'?" Rose teased with a laugh.

"Yeah, I came first in jiggery-pokery. What about you?" The Doctor joked as he put the battery in his pocket.

"Nah, I failed that class. Did come second in hullabaloo, though." Rose told him with a smirk as he placed a different battery in the mobile before putting the back on and handed the mobile back to her.

"There you go." The Doctor said smiling at her, Rose smiled back happy that they were alright again. She hated whenever her and the Doctor fought, but she wouldn't stand down if she thought the Doctor was wrong (not that that happened very often) or when she was tired of him trying to do everything himself and not rely on her. Rose focused her attention back to her phone, knowing she needed to call her mother.

"Hello?" Jackie asked answering the phone, and Rose couldn't help the smile that found its way onto her face. No matter how much she loved traveling with the Doctor, she would always miss her mother.

"Mum?" Rose asked causing the Doctor to give her a small chuckle, in retaliation, Rose stuck her tongue out at him. She couldn't help the swell in her chest when she noticed the Doctor's eyes dilating while staring at her mouth. She wondered what he was thinking about.

"Oh, what is it? What's wrong? What have I done now?" Jackie asked snapping Rose out of her thoughts. "Ooh, this red top's falling to bits! You should get your money back." Rose laughed at that. "Go on, there must be something. You never phone in the middle of the day." Rose continued laughing cutting into her mother's rambling. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, just miss you. Did you get my letter?" Rose asked confusing the Doctor.

"Yeah, Mickey gave it to me. What'd you mean when you said you got a job helping a doctor? Doctor who? What's he do? How are you helping him? How'd you meet him?" Jackie asked.

"Just bumped into him. Helped him out in a tough spot. And I do whatever I can to help him." Rose informed her mother locking eyes with the Doctor.

"He's not making you do anything you don't want to, is he?" The Doctor tensed up as Jackie asked that.

"No, Mum, he'd never make me do anything that I'm not comfortable with. He's not Jimmy." Rose told her and heard her mother's sigh of relief.

"Are you sure you're alright, Rose? Because, I'd come get you." Jackie said and Rose chuckled at that. "I would Rose, I'd get Mickey to help me and we'd come get you."

"I know you would Mum, but trust me, the Doctor would never let any harm come to me." Rose told her smiling when the Doctor smiled at her before pulling her into a hug. Jackie was silent for a long minute.

"Alright, luv, I trust you. But that don't mean I trust this doctor man. I mean you still haven't told me his name! When you two get back from whatever it is you're doing, we're gonna have a sit down and talk. You hear me?" Jackie told her.

"I hear you, Mum." Rose said biting her lip, wondering if the Doctor was actually going to sit and talk with her mother this time around.

"Is there something wrong?" Jackie asked in concerns.

"No, everything's find. Top of the world!" Rose joked causing the Doctor to laugh and tighten his hold on her.

"He's there, isn't he?" Jackie asked.

"He is, but he's not making me say anything I don't want to." Rose told her and shook her head at the Doctor's questioning look. "Look Mum, I gotta go. I'll call you whenever I can find the time. I promise." Rose said before hanging up with a heavy sigh.

"If you think that's amazing, you wanna see the bill." The Doctor joked tightly, obviously trying to keep from demanded her to explain that conversation.

"That was five billion years ago." Rose told him, knowing it would be too suspicious if she didn't comment on it. "She offered to come pick me up, but, she's dead now."

"Bundle of laughs, you are." The Doctor told her sarcastically.

"Right, you have questions." Rose said and the Doctor opened his mouth to ask them when the station rumbled and shook harshly. Rose's eyes flew over to where the metal ball had been tossed during their argument, and silently cursed when she found it open. She had completely forgotten about it!

"That's not supposed to happen." The Doctor told her giving her a look that she knew meant that his mind was racing to try and figure everything out. Rose took his hand getting ready to run.

"Honored guests may be reassured that gravity pockets may cause slight turbulence. Thanking you." The Stewards announced over the PA as the Doctor and her took off to the Main Observation gallery to the litany of voices, all talking at once. Panicked and hushed, but added together to become a dull roar. Groups had moved and were intermingled now, except for the Adherents of the Repeated Meme.

"Indubitably this is the Bad Wolf scenario." The Moxx of Balhoon muttered to the Face of Boe and the Curator, who had locked eyes with her the second she had entered the room.

"She did warn me this might happen." The Curator said with a troubled sigh looking away from Rose to look at the Face of Boe who was nodding.

"That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets, and they don't feel like that." The Doctor said pulling out his screwdriver before beginning to scan the interface next to the door. Rose caught Jabe walking over to them, the look in her eyes made Rose shutter. She couldn't tell if it was a good look or a bad look. Feeling her shutter, the Doctor looked around and saw the look Jabe was giving her. "What do you think, Jabe?" The Doctor growled out causing the tree to look at him. "Listen to the engines they're pitched up about 30 Hertz. That dodgy or what?"

"It's the sound of metal, that doesn't make any sense to me." Jabe told him her eyes making their way back to Rose.

"Where's the engine room?" The Doctor demanded causing Jabe's eyes to fly back to him. It was then that Rose realized what the Doctor was doing, he was keeping Jabe's attention on him and away from her. He had sensed her discomfort at the look Jabe had given her and was trying to protect her from it. Rose felt her heart swell with love for the man next to her.

"I don't know." Jabe said. "But the maintenance duct is just behind our guests' suite, I could show you." She finished her eyes drifting back to Rose, making her feel as if the invite was for her alone and not for the Doctor, but at the Doctor's growl Jabe's eyes flew away from her and back to the Doctor. "And your wife."

"Oh, I'm not his wife." Rose found herself saying before she could stop herself, a habit carried over from the last time. The Doctor's eyes flew over to hers, hurt in his eyes. And Rose realized that this was going to be a habit she would be happy to break.

"Partner?" Jabe asked eyes raking her up and down.

"Look, whatever I am, it must be invisible! Do you mind?" Rose snapped. She didn't know this tree well enough to be comfortable being looked at like that. That calming presence was in her mind once more and for a reason she didn't know, her eyes locked with the Curator's. "Tell you what, you two go and pollinate. I'll stay here." Rose growled out. The Doctor's face hardened at that, his eyes flying between Rose and Jabe as if trying to decide if he wanted to leave her here alone or take her with him and Jabe.

"Sounds like a plan." The Doctor said tightly, his mind made up and obviously he didn't like it.

"I'm just going to catch up with the Family. Quick word with Micheal Jackson." Rose joked nodded over to Casandra, glancing at the Curator when he snorted out a laugh again.

"Don't start a fight." The Doctor told her as she began to make her way to the Curator who was now standing in between her and the flap of skin. "Seems I'm all yours." He told Jabe.

"And I want you home by midnight." Rose called out to the Doctor, Jabe and the Curator snickering at that.

"Your mate is possessive." The Curator said shocking Rose as she spun around to look at him. "Surprised he even let you out of his sight with me around." He added before pulling her into an embrace that turned into a dance as Glenn Miller's 'Moonlight Serenade' began to play from the 'iPod'.

"Oh, you don't seem all that dangerous." Rose found herself saying in a slightly teasing flirt, there was something about him that made it almost natural for her to flirt with him, something almost Doctor-y. She looked at the Curator in surprise when he gave her a growl that reminded her of the Doctor's growl as he dipped her and kissed her throat .

"I'll have you know, Rose Tyler, I am more dangerous that you know. Most dangerous man in the universe, I am." The Curator said, his lips against her throat. He gave her throat a soft nip before he pulled her up from the dip. "I've been known to topple empires, save multiple worlds from war, and even send armies of millions running in terror with just a look." Rose blinked at him in surprise, a slight fear of the man rising in her. "Oh, but you have nothing to fear, my dear, I only do what I must to protect the innocent, my wife wouldn't be happy if I went off for no reason."

"You're wife?" Rose asked in confusion looking around to room to see if she could find this mysterious wife of his. "Is she here?"

"I'm afraid not, my dear wife had to stay at home with our twins. I told her I was popping out to grab some more nappies." The Curator told her with a smirk, his eyes twinkling in hidden laughter.

"You seem to have missed a turn, my dear sir, the nappies are to the left of the solar system, not right." Rose told him with a laugh and a small shake of her head.

"My wife always said I was bad with directions, I mean, if it weren't for her I'd never get to where I'm needed to be." The Curator joked.

"Don't worry, I'm sure if you're quick enough, once you leave here and pick up those nappies, you're wife will never know you made a wrong turn. It'll be our little secret." Rose whispered to him causing him to laugh.

"Oh, I'm sure my wife already knows I'm here, in fact I'm quite positive she knew I would be here even before I, myself, knew." The Curator told her with a wink as the song came to an end. "Have you met my dear friend the Face of Boe? I owe him not only my life but also my marriage, without him I don't think I'd have pulled my head out of my arse long enough to propose to the love of my lives." He told her with a loving sigh as he led her over to the Face of Boe.

_Hello_. Rose instinctively called out to the Face of Boe with her mind while smiling at him.

"I do believe you'll be in good company, but I must sadly leave you for now, my dear. Things to see, people to do, as I'm sure you know." The Curator told her with a smirk and a wink before taking her hand in his and bringing it to his lips before leaving her with the laughing Face of Boe.

_I see it is finally my turn to bask in your light, My Lady._  The Face of Boe told her, once he had calmed from his laughing, with a wink causing Rose to laugh at his blatant flirting, instantly reminding her of Jack.  _I would ask you to dance with me, but I fear our song has already played._  Rose looked at him in confusion, they had a song?  _But then I would need arms to hold you again, wouldn't I, Rosie?_  Rose's eyes widened at that, there was only one person who called her that.

"Jack?" Rose whispered in shock.

_Hello, Rosie, it is so good to see you. I've missed you._  Jack told her as she gasped at him. Her eyes taking in everything about him.

_What happened? How did you... when did..._  Bad Wolf shifted in the back of her mind pulling up the memory of her reviving him.  _Did I do this?_

_Rosie, please calm down. I've been like this a long, long time now._  Jack confirmed.  _Yes, this is a result of that. But not like you think. From what I know, what I remember you telling me, what will be will happen as it is meant to. Don't worry. I've come to terms with this eons ago, my beautiful Rosie._

"Earth-death in ten minutes." The computerized female voice announced. Rose and Jack ignored it and continued to enjoy each other's presence for the next five or so minutes until Cassandra called out over the dull roar that filled the room interrupting them. Rose rolled her eyes and turned to look at Cassandra, wondering what the trampoline had to say now.

"The Planet's end." Cassandra called. "Come gather, come gather. Let us bid farewell to the cradle of civilization." Rose could have sworn she heard the Curator snort once more but couldn't find him in the crowd when she looked for him. "Let us mourn her passing with a traditional ballad." Rose shook her head wondering how 'Toxic' by the now long dead Brittany Spears was a traditional ballad for anything and mentally asked Jack that.

It's because it's not, Rosie. Jack told her and Rose nodded.  _If she were truly human then she would know that the traditional ballad for anything is 'Barbie Girl'._  Rose nearly bit her tongue trying not to bust out laughing as she remembered the time when she tricked Jack into believing that 'Barbie Girl' was the national anthem for humans. He spent hours dancing around the TARDIS singing that song so proudly until the Doctor spilled the beans after getting annoyed by the song.

She shook her head at Jack as he began to sing 'Barbie Girl' in his head as she looked around. This was all new to her. By this point last time she had been locked in a sun scorched room and had no idea what had been happening. The doors to the main observation room opened as the Doctor and Jabe walked in.

_Your Doctor has returned, Rosie._  Jack told her, cutting into his song.  _Go to him, I'll be fine. I have the Curator here with me after all._

_Who is the Curator, Jack? He knew me, how does he know me? I've never met him._  Rose said and Jack shook his head.

_That's the Curator's secret to tell, Rosie._  Jack told her causing her to sigh before she turned and made her way to the Doctor, he met her half-way and took her hand in his before leading her and Jabe to the center of the room. Once at the center of the room, Jabe got everyone's attention and showed them the metal spider in her hand.

"The metal machine confirms, the spider devices have infiltrated the whole of Platform One." Jabe announced causing a shocked gasp to travel around the room.

"How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code-wall." Cassandra gasped out and Rose couldn't stop herself from rolling her eyes, she hoped the truth about Cassandra would come out soon, she really wanted to lay into the flap of skin. "Moisturize me, moisturize me."

"Summon the steward!" The Moxx of Balhoon cried.

"He's dead." The Curator informed him receiving a suspicious glare from the Doctor as he took the spider from Jabe.

"Who killed him?" The Moxx of Balhoon asked.

"This whole event was sponsored but the Face of Boe! He invited us." Cassandra falsely accused.

"The Face of Boe would never endanger anyone like this!" Rose defended glaring at her, dropping the Doctor's hand and began to make her way towards the woman ready to throw down with her. She would not stand for this flap of skin to deface her friend like that. But she was stopped by the Curator grabbing her arm.

"Easy way of finding out." The Doctor growled out. "Someone brought their little pet on board." He said holding the spider up for everyone to see before setting it on the ground. "Let's send him back to master." The Spider slowly made its way around the room, stopping at Cassandra to scan her before going to Rose and stopped in front of her, one of its legs pawing at her like a dog would its master.

"Stop lying." The Curator growled at it. The spider beeped at him angrily before making its way behind Rose to the robed robots that Rose just noticed was way too close to her for her liking. How had she not noticed them coming up behind her? How had the Doctor not noticed? Or even the Curator?

"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme! J'accuse!" Cassandra cried out.

"That's all very well and really kinda obvious." The Doctor growled as he made his way to the robots, glaring that the Curator as he did so. The suspicious look in the Doctor's eyes alerted Rose that he believed that it was the Curator who was doing this. "But if you stop and think about it..." Before the Doctor could even get to the robots, the one closest to her swung. Rose cried out in pain as she was hit, knocking her to the ground, before the Doctor or Curator could react. "Rose!" The Doctor yelled as the Curator caught the robot's arm as it swung to hit her once more and ripped the arm off.

"A Repeated Meme is just an idea." The Curator growled as the Doctor fell to his knees beside Rose and gently touched her head causing Rose to hiss in pain. Why was she supposed to get hit by these robots every time? At least this time she hadn't been knocked out and dragged into a room to be fried to death. "And that's all they are, an idea." The Curator continued as he powered the robots down.

"Remote-control droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker." The Doctor said as he helped her stand up. "Go on, Jumbo. Go home." The Doctor ordered the spider while the Curator gently nudged the spider. The spider looked at the Curator and Rose felt the Doctor's grip on her tighten before the spider turned and made its way back to Cassandra, shocking not only the other guest but the Doctor as well. Rose shook her head at that, apparently the Doctor had been so sure that it was the Curator.

"I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed." Cassandra hissed out. "At arms!"

"What you gonna do, moisturize me?" The Doctor asked tauntingly but still placed himself between her and Cassandra.

"With acid." Cassandra told him causing Rose to gasp. "Oh, you're too late anyway. My spiders have control of the main frame. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax-free, past every code-wall. I'm not just a pretty face."

"You're not even a face." Rose snapped out causing the Curator to laugh.

"Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it, how stupid is that?" The Doctor growled out glaring at her.

"I'd hope to manufacture a hostage situation. With myself as one of the victims. The compensation would've been enormous." Cassandra said and Rose rolled her eyes.

"Five billion years, and it still comes down to money." Rose said shaking her head.

"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this?" Cassandra asked her. "Flatness costs a fortune, you abomination!" Rose blinked in shock when both the Doctor and the Curator loudly, and darkly, growled at Cassandra.

"Arrest her! The infidel!" The Moxx of Balhoon cried.

"Oh, shut it, pixie! I've still got my final option." Cassandra announce.

"Earth-death in three minutes." The Automated voice alerted.

"And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies. And they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? 'Burn baby, burn.'" Cassandra monologued.

_Why do they always monologue?_  Rose asked Jack.

_To give us away to stop them._  The Curator replied back, shocking Rose having not expected his voice in her head.

"Then you'll burn with us!" Jabe told her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Cassandra told her feigning apologetic. "I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but...I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders, activate!" And with that Platform One shook and sparked. "Force-fields gone, with the planet about to explode... At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband..." Cassandra said with a laugh. "Oh, shame on me! Bye-bye, darlings." And with that she and he henchmen teleported away.

"Safety systems failing. Heat levels rising." The Automated voice announced sending the room into a panic.

"Reset the computer!" The Moxx of Balhoon cried.

"Only the steward would know how." Jabe told him.

"No, we can do it by hand." Both the Doctor and the Curator announced at the same time.

"Rose, stay here and help the Face of Boe." The Curator ordered and Rose opened her mouth to argue. "You'll be safer here and that will allow me and your Doctor to be able to focus on saving everyone." The desperate look he gave her had her arguments dying on her lips.

"Who are you?" Rose asked.

"We don't have time for me to answer that question now, Rose. But I promise I will answer your question once we save everyone." The Curator told her softly before spinning around and raced to the door. "Doctor, with me! You lot, listen to Rose!" He ordered and the Doctor shot her a look before leaving her to race after the Curator.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven-**

"Earth-death in two minutes. Earth-death in two minutes. Heat levels critical. Heat levels critical." The Automated voice alerted as Rose, with the help of Jabe, moved everyone as far away from the window as they could, crowding into the corridor. Rose knew that this wouldn't stop the heat from taking people's lives, but she hoped it would help save more people from that terrible fate.

_They will be alright, Rosie._  Jack told her when he caught her worrying her bottom lip while looking down the corridor that the Doctor and Curator had run down.

_I know._  Rose told him wiping the sweat off her brow.

"Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising." The Automated voice announced. And though Rose knew from experience that the Doctor would save them in time, she couldn't stop her tears.

"Your mate will save us." Jabe told her calmly as she wrapped a calming arm around her.

"I know. I just wish this didn't have to happen." Rose told her.

"I think we all wish that." Jabe told her.

"External temperature 5,000 degrees." The Automated voice alerted and Rose growled inwardly wishing that damn thing would shut up! "Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising."

_We know already!_  Rose growled in her mind.

_It's just doing it's job, Rosie._  Jack told her calmly and she sighed.

"Heat levels hazardous." The Automated voice announced.

"We're going to die!" The Moxx of Balhoon cried and Rose wanted to reassure all of them that no they were not, but the Bad Wolf was keeping her from telling them that, because not all of them here were going to make it.

"Heat levels hazardous." The Automated voice said and Rose felt helpless. She wanted to help but she couldn't do anything! She was stuck here watching as the heat began to take people. Rose dislodged herself from Jabe and ran around a corner to curl up and cry. She couldn't do this! She couldn't watch these people die! "Shields malfunction. Shields malfunction. Shields malfunction." She could hear the glass in every room start to crack in the heat and she curled in on herself even more as the heat began to rise even more. What was taking the Doctor and the Curator so long! At this rate everyone was going to die!

"Heat levels critical. Heat levels critical." The screaming began and Rose covered her ears and cried as Bad Wolf confirmed her fears. There was nothing she could do. "Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising. Planet explodes in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." Rose squeezed her eyes shut as the count down began. "Shields raised." The Automated voiced announced and Rose let out a sigh of relief, they had done it.

"Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair." The Automated voice alerted.

_Jack, are you alive? Please tell me you're still alive._  Rose cried out.

_You can't get rid of me that easily, Rosie._  Jack whispered back to her, his voice strained and guilt hit her hard.

_I'm sorry I ran, I just couldn't..._

_You have nothing to apologize for, Rosie, hell if I could have, I would have run with you._  Jack told her as she stood up and walked around the corner to see the damage. The Moxx of Balhoon was dead, along with a good portion of the workers as their friends and family mourned over the piles of ashes and bodies. Thankfully Jabe, Lute, and Coffa were still alive. Rose looked towards Jack to see that most of the liquid in his jar had evaporated. Foot steps caught Rose's attention and she spun around in time to see both the Doctor and the Curator storming down the hall angrily. Rose's breath caught in her throat as she caught sight of the Curator's bandaged hands.

_I'm fine Rose, I heal quickly._  The Curator sent her mentally. But he needs you. He added and Rose didn't need to know who he was talking about as she rushed to the Doctor and quickly took his hand. He led her and the rest of the living back into the main observation hall.

"You all right?" Rose asked him quietly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The Doctor told her, his tone letting her know that no, he was not all right. Rose bit the inside of her cheek to keep from arguing with him, there was still something left to do. "I'm full of ideas. I'm bristling with 'em! Idea number one, teleportation through 5,000 degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two. This feed must be hidden nearby." He said leading her over to the ostrich egg, taking it one handedly and cracked it open taking the device that was inside it.

"Idea number three." He continued leading her to the center of the room. "If you're as clever as me, then a teleportation-feed can be reversed." He said as he reversed the feed and brought Cassandra back, alone.

"Oh, you should've seen their little alien faces..." Cassandra bragged as she appeared back on Platform One, alone. "Oh." She cried out in shock.

"The last human." The Doctor growled.

"So, you passed my little test. Bravo!" Cassandra said. "This makes you eligible to join the... the Human Club."

"People have died Cassandra, you murdered them." The Curator growled at her.

"It depends on your definition of people!" Cassandra snarled at him. "And that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries! Take me to court then, Curator, and watch me smile and cry and flutter."

"And creak?" The Doctor asked pulling Cassandra's attention away from the Curator towards him.

"And what?" Cassandra asked in confusion.

"Creak! You're creaking." The Doctor told her with a smirk.

"What? I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens! Moisturize me, moisturize me!" Cassandra moaned in pain and Rose's heart hurt for her. Enough people had suffered and died today. "Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!"

"You raised the temperature." The Doctor told her darkly.

"Have pity! Moisturize me!" Cassandra begged.

"Help her." Rose begged the Doctor receiving a confused yet slightly proud stare from the Doctor while the Curator sent her a proud smile as if she had passed a test he had hoped she would.

"Everything has its time and everything dies." The Doctor told her turning to glare back at Cassandra and Rose had to stop herself from telling him that Cassandra wouldn't die here.

"I'm too young!" Cassandra screamed just before her flap of skin exploded. The Doctor tightened his grip on her hand before turning to lead her out of the room, only to be stopped by the Curator.

"I believe you promised that I could talk with Rose after you had dealt with Cassandra." The Curator said and ignored the Doctor's growl. "She asked me a question earlier that I intend to answer."

"You can answer her here and now, with me present." The Doctor told him and the Curator shook his head.

"No, this is a question that needs answering in private, away from you." The Curator told him softly.

"Then she doesn't need it answered!" The Doctor growled as the guests began to leave one by one.

"I believe that decision is Rose's to make." The Curator said and soon both of them were looking at her. Rose fought the urge to stay with the Doctor knowing that this was a question that needed to be answered. It was the reason he was here this time around.

"It'll only take a minute, Doctor." Rose told him and had to fight the guilt that threatened to consume her at the hurt and betrayed look he was giving her before he ripped his hand from hers and stormed out of the room with the Face of Boe being wheeled out behind him as the last guest.

"He'll be back. He will always come back for you. Once he cools off he'll be back." The Curator told her holding out his hand for her to take, and she couldn't find the strength to take it. Sensing this, the Curator dropped his hand and gave her an understanding smile before silently mentioning her to walk with him. "Earlier you asked me a question, you asked who I was."

"And you promised to answer me after everything was done." Rose said as they slowly walked over to the window.

"And I intend to keep that promise." The Curator told her.

"Who are you?" Rose asked.

"I am the Doctor." He told her, shocking. "Well, I am a future version of the Doctor. I am also a promise, a glimpse at a future that you could have. We could have this, if you want." He told her as they locked eyes.

"And what do I have to do to get this future?" Rose asked in barely a whisper.

"Don't let pinstripe me catch you." He told her. "He's going to figure out what you are doing once his memories start to change, he won't realize it right off the bat. But when he does he'll begin to hunt for what is changing his past, and his hunt will lead to you. And he'll do everything in his power to stop you and set everything to the way he believes is right. And if he catches you, if he gets his hands on you, he will succeed. And it will kill him, literally." Rose gasped at that. "But, if you can be strong and faster than him, you will save not only me but also the universe. I know you can do this Rose."

"How do you know this?" Rose asked him.

"Because I would not be here talking to you." He told her before kissing her on her cheek. "I know this is a lot to ask of you, but if me and the TARDIS did not believe you could do this we would not have asked you to do this, my Pink and Yellow Rosebud." And with that, he turned and left her alone in the observation room. Rose turned and looked out the window, mind already made up. She would do this, she would save her Doctor and the universe.

Minutes later the Doctor found her staring at the ball of molten rock that used to be the Earth. Rose turned to look at him with a loving smile as he made his way to her, happy to note that he was calmer now. When he was close enough, Rose held out her hand to him and was pleased when he took it as he settled next to her. Where he belonged. Next to her with her hand in his.

"The end of the Earth." Rose told him before he could ask her what the Curator said to her. "It's gone. We were too busy saving ourselves. No one saw it go." It was silent between them as the Doctor turned his head to watch her instead of the planet in front of them. "All those years, all that history, and no one was even looking! It's just..."

"Come with me." The Doctor said softly before he gently led her back to the TARDIS. Without a word the Doctor quickly set in some coordinates before flipping the dematerialization. The trip was a lot less rocky and they landed with a soft bump instead of the normal bounce that she had grown so used to. And, without the TARDIS having to tell her anything, Rose knew that this was the TARDIS's way of apologizing for everything that Rose was going to have to face in order to keep herself with the Doctor.

Once landed, the Doctor gently took her hand and led her out of the TARDIS and into the busy street of central London. Rose knew the Doctor was trying to make up for everything that had happened, to apologize for forcing her through that. But the Doctor had nothing to apologize for.

"You think it'll last forever, people and cars and concrete." The Doctor started as she took everything in. All the sights, all the sounds, all the smells. This was Earth, this was London, this was where she was born and raised, but this was not her home. It hadn't been home since she ran into the TARDIS that first time around. Yes, she still loved this place. Yes, she would defend this place. But her home and heart belonged to the Doctor and his TARDIS. "But it won't. One day, it's all gone. Even the sky." Rose knew that he was thinking of his home, of what he had to do.

It was only then that it dawned on her why the Doctor had taken her to the end of the Earth, he was trying to get her to understand him on a level no one else could. To understand how it feels to loose one's home. But, unlike with her, he would never be able to pop back in time for a quick visit because Gallyfrey no longer existed in any time.

"My planet's gone. It's dead. It burned, like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust. Before its time." The Doctor told her releasing her hand to pull her into a hug.

"The war took it, didn't it, Doctor?" Rose asked knowing the answer.

"I'm all alone, Rose, they're all gone. I've got no one, it's why I travel on my own now." The Doctor told her, his broken tone causing her heart to hurt for him.

"There's me." Rose told him.

"You've seen how dangerous it is. Do you wanna go home?" The Doctor asked and knew he was asking about the flat that she shared with her mother because he didn't know, couldn't know, that her home was with him in the TARDIS hand in hand. Rose shook her head, answering him.

"I want..." Rose started but stopped herself from continuing, she couldn't tell him that she wanted to be with him, wanted to save him, wanted him to love her the way she loved him, wanted forever with him. The delicious smell of chips filled her nose. "Can you smell chips?" Rose asked causing the Doctor to laugh.

"Yeah! Yeah." The Doctor told her.

"I want chips." Rose told him.

"Me too!" The Doctor said as he continued to laugh.

"Right then, before you get me back in the TARDIS, chips it is and you can pay." Rose told him with a smile.

"No money." The Doctor informed her and Rose laughed remembering that it was only after this that the Doctor started carrying around money with him.

"What sort of date are you?" Rose joked with a light laugh. "Come on then, tightwad. Chips are on me. We've only got five billion years till the shops close." That caused the Doctor to laugh before pulling her into a kiss.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you that wish to get sneak peeks of future chapters or have questions that you want answered please feel free to join the Discord server 'Replay'. If you cannot find the server please contact me (MyariRose #1920) on Discord and let me know you wish to join the server and I will send you an invite. I hope to see you all there.

**Chapter Eight-**

The Doctor slipped quietly into the room that the TARDIS had given Rose, glad to see she was sleeping soundly. The Doctor sighed and sat on the edge of her bed and couldn't stop the smile that found its way to his lips when she rolled over so that she was closer to him. His eyes took her in. She was gorgeous, just as she had been in the basement of that shop.

The second the Doctor had seen her huddled up against the wall in fear, he had been drawn to her. He hadn't known what was drawing her to him and at the time he hadn't questioned it. He had just thought that he had been drawn to her to save her. But the second he had touched her hand, he knew that had been wrong. But even then he hadn't had time to question why he was drawn to her, nor had he been able to question why her fear had instantly melted away to joy and excitement the second his hand had slid into hers.

The Doctor shifted so that he was laying beside her. His hearts jumped when she moved so that she was cuddling to him. This was wrong. He knew that. She was human and he was a Time Lord. If his planet were still around and the elders knew of this, then she would be taken from him and he would be thrown into the matrix. The Doctor wrapped his arm around Rose at that thought.

He wouldn't let anything take her from him. She was  _his_. The universe had led him to her. Had  _wanted_  him to find her. She was meant for him. He knew that. Could sense it. Her soul cried out for his, just as his cried out for hers. As if sensing his thoughts, Rose sighed happily and snuggled closer while shifting so that her head now laid on his chest. The Doctor held his breath, waiting for his double heart beat to wake her. But she merely sighed again and fell into a deeper sleep.

The Doctor allowed his hand to run through her soft hair. He had heard tales from the older Time Lords, those on their last life. But, like all the other younger Time Lords, he had merely brushed them aside, calling them fairy tales. But, as he held Rose to him, he was ready to admit that maybe those tales were true. Maybe soulmates truly did exist. And maybe, just maybe, Rose was his.

Everything fit with all the tales he had heard. The emptiness deep in the soul that nothing could fill suddenly being gone with just one touch. The deep ache in not just body but mind and soul being sooth just from hearing them. The urge to provide and protect. The absolute  _need_  to have them with you at all times.

In some deep, dark depth of his mind, a voice called out. It told him to be frightened of this. That this  _thing_  between him and Rose would destroy him if he let her get too close. It demanded he hold her at arms length. Hissed at him to remember that she was a  _human_. That her life was just a small blip on the radar that was a Time Lords life.

However, before the Doctor could even think about listening to that evil voice. Another voice sang to him. This one so light and beautiful and powerful that if he didn't know any better he would mistake it for the TARDIS. But, he knew the TARDIS's voice and this was not the TARDIS. It was almost like a perfect blend of the TARDIS's voice and Rose's voice.

And this voice sang to him of hope. Asking him to give these blossoming feelings a chance. Begged him to hold Rose close to his hearts. Whispered for him to love Rose for however long the universe gave the two of them.

And that voice was so tempting, so  _alluring_ , that the Doctor wanted to listen to it. He  _wanted_  the life with Rose that it allowed him to glimpse so much that he helped the angelic voice shove that dark, nasty, and hateful voice back into the pit it had crawled from.

The Doctor carefully removed Rose from his chest so that he could sit up and remove his boots and jacket. He tossed his jacket onto the chair across from the bed before pulling back the sheets and slipped into the bed beside his Rose. He sent a silent prayer to his beloved ship that if Rose awoke before him that she wouldn't yell or slap him. Prayed that he hadn't been misreading the signs. Prayed that she was starting to feel the same things he was.

And with that last thought, and with Rose tucked safely into his arms, the Doctor allowed himself to finally rest after nearly a month of forcing himself to stay awake so he would not dream of the war.

Almost five hours later, the Doctor's mind slowly woke itself up. The first thing it noted was the lovely smell of lavender and something all together  _Rose_. The second thing it noted was the calming sound of someone humming, of  _Rose_  humming. The third thing it noted was the soft touch of someone running their hand through his short hair, of  _Rose_  running her hand through his short hair. "Rose." The Doctor breathed out nuzzling his nose into the crook of her neck.

"Good morning, Doctor." Rose told him before placing a kiss to his temple, sending a delicious cocktail of love, want, need, and lust through his body causing it to hum.

"Time is irrelevant in the TARDIS. There is no day or night." The Doctor muttered as he tightened his arms around her and held her closer to him causing Rose to chuckle at either what he said or his reaction. For a split-second that nasty voice managed to crawl out of its pit to growl at him that she was laughing at him, that she couldn't possibly want him the way he was starting to want her. But then that angelic voice swept the other voice back into its pit as it reminded him of all the kisses they shared.

"I could get used to waking up like this." Rose told him placing another kiss to his temple. The Doctor moaned as that cocktail swept through him again, his hips automatically thrusting forward.

"Me too." The Doctor told her blushing in embarrassment as the very same thoughts that flew through his mind when he had her pinned under him in her flat resurfaced again. But this time, he didn't shove them away, this time he allowed them to stay. He felt a part of him that he had never had use of other than to empty his bladder began to twitch and come to life in a way he had never felt before. Of course he knew it was possible, human males did it all the time when they were aroused by their mate. And, since humans evolved to look like Time Lords, it was only logical to hypothesize that male Time Lords would do the same when aroused by their mate.

The Doctor knew the second Rose felt his arousal against her as she sucked in a breath. He watched her with wary eyes wondering if this would be too much. But when she smiled at him with that lovely blush across her cheeks he knew he hadn't crossed the line yet. He wanted to flip her over and worship her. To show her how much she belonged to him just like he belonged to her. But a voice, neither the hateful one nor the angelic one, told him that it would be too soon to do that. It told him to wait. Promised him that he would know the right time to worship her the way he wanted to.

"Right, Rose Tyler, I've taken you to the future. How's about I take you to the past." The Doctor said forcing himself to sit up, not trusting himself enough to not roll them over and start worshiping her then and there. Rose followed him up smiling that delicious smile that she seemed to only do for him. The one where her tongue poked between her teeth. One of these days he would allow himself to chase that tongue back into her mouth before claiming that mouth as his.

"Sounds like a perfect plan." Rose told him.

"Right, to do that we'll need to get up." The Doctor told her.

"Not so perfect anymore." Rose teased causing the Doctor to laugh. His Rose was so cheeky and seemed to know just what to say.

"Come on, Rose Tyler. We can't spend all day in bed, you lot already sleep half your lives away as it is." The Doctor told her slipping out of bed and into his boots. He bent over to tie them up and felt her staring. He couldn't stop his smirk at that, happy that his Rose found him so appealing.

After finishing tying his boots up he turned and held out his hand for her, which she quickly took. He helped her off the bed before pulling her into his arms and took hold of her lips with his. He allowed this kiss to last longer than the others and received a beautiful moan in return. It took all of his might to pull away from the kiss and gave a smug smirk at how breathless he had made his Rose.

"Right, you get cleaned up and meet me back in the console room." He told her giving her one last peck before releasing her and left the room, heading to the console room, shifting himself as he did so.

Twenty minutes later found both him and Rose fighting through the rough flight as they tried to stabilize the TARDIS. "Hold that one down!" The Doctor ordered as the TARDIS rocked and tumbled through the vortex.

"I'm holding  _this_  one down!" Rose told him as she stumbled and fought to keep her balance while holding down the switch he had told her to hold down earlier. It wasn't an easy task but his Pink and Yellow girl was doing the best she could, and that was all he could ask of her.

"Well, hold them  _both_  down!" The Doctor told her and could have sworn Rose had just growled at him as she glared at the just slightly out of reach button. He nearly bit his tongue off when she threw her leg up onto the panel and used it to hold the white lever down. How flexible was she? His mind asked as she used her new position to be able to stretch just enough to slam her hand down on the button he had asked her to hold down.

"Thank god for gymnastics." He heard Rose mutter as she rocked dangerously as the TARDIS shifted in the vortex. And the Doctor had to mentally shake himself away from all the thoughts that bombarded his mind at how much he wanted to test just how  _flexible_  she could be.

"I promised you a time machine, Rose, and that's what you're getting. 1860. How does 1860 sound?" The Doctor asked in hopes to distract himself from the way Rose had draped herself over his console. Maybe, later, if he was  _really_  good she would let him drape her over the console in another way?

"What happened in 1860?" Rose asked pulling him away from that thought.

"I don't know, let's find out! Hold on, here we go!" The Doctor said before quickly rushing over to pull the dematerialization lever sending them hurtling faster through the vortex. When the TARDIS landed with a loud and heavy thumb, both him and Rose were thrown to the ground on their backs. The Doctor couldn't help laughing with his Rose even as his console let out a steam, as if his TARDIS was letting out a heavy breath.

"Blimey!" Rose laughed out as he got to his feet and held out his hand to help her up.

"Telling me! You all right?" He asked as he let his eyes roam over her for any sort of injury.

"Yeah, I think so. Nothing broken." Rose told him smiling at him, reassured that she was unharmed, the Doctor turned to the screen on the console to check if they had made it. "Did we make it? Where are we?"

"I did it! Give the man a medal." The Doctor told her.

"How 'bout a kiss?" Rose asked before pulling him into a kiss.

"Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860." The Doctor told her once they had pulled away from the kiss.

"That's so weird. It's Christmas." Rose said excitedly.

"All yours." The Doctor told her holding his arm out towards the doors.

"Bit it's like... Think about it, though. Christmas, 1860, happens once, just once, and then it's gone, it's finished, it'll never happen again." Rose told him as she looped her arms around his neck smiling lovingly at him causing his hearts to speed up. "Except for you. You can go back and see days that are dead and gone. A hundred thousand sunsets ago. No wonder you never stay still."

"Not a bad life." The Doctor whispered to her wondering if she would want to live it with him,  _praying_  she would want to live it with him. But if she wanted something quieter, slower, he would force himself to give it to her because she was quickly becoming his everything and he would do  _anything_  to keep her with him.

"Better with two." Rose told him and he smiled. She wanted this life with him! Something inside him shifted as the air around them changed slightly. She had agreed to stay with him. Had accepted him as hers. Accepted his claim to her. The Doctor let out a possessive growl as he claimed her lips as his. His tongue ran along her bottom lip demanding entrance. He  _needed_  to mark her as his so that everyone knew she was  _his_.

Rose moaned and opened her lips and his tongue darted forward tasting and claiming her mouth. His hands began to roam, one hand went to the back of her head and tangled in her hair and pulled lightly, the moan he received in response had his hips thrusting forward. His other hand quickly found its way to her round and plump arse and gave it a possessive squeeze as he began to kiss away from her mouth to let her breathe.

" _Mine_." He growled out in his native tongue as he began to mark her neck. " _Mine_." He growled again as the hand on her arse moved around to the front and cupped her already soaked sex. " _Mine_." He continued as he began to stimulate her core through her jeans. He wanted to strip both of them of their clothes and mount her and claim her as his from the inside out. But something was yelling at him that it was too soon, that taking it further than this would be too much too soon.

"Doctor." Rose moaned as she clung to him, her eyes out of focus and her face flushed. Pride swelled in him as he unbuttoned her jeans and slid his hand in them to continue to pleasure her.  _He_  was the reason she was out of breath.  _He_  was the reason she was flushed.  _He_  was the one making her legs weak and needing his arms to keep her standing.  _He_  was the one she was soaked for.

" _Mine_." He told her as his finger slipped past her knickers and easily entered her. Rose tossed her head back with a loud moan before he slammed his mouth on hers. He worked his finger in and out of her before slipping another one inside her as he held her closer to him. She began to beg and plead for more as he buried his head in the crook of her neck and breathed in her scent that was full of need for  _him_  and no one else. He needed to taste her.

Rose whined in lose when he suddenly took his fingers from her before he practically threw her onto the console and ripped her jeans and knickers off. He growled in both pleasure and possessiveness at the sight of her glistening sex and ignored his TARDIS's annoyance at them doing this on the console.

"Doctor." Rose moaned and within seconds his head was buried between her legs growling possessively as he swiped his tongue over her soaked lips. Her hands flew to his head and her fingers tried to find something to grab onto as his tongue entered her. A quick and fleeting thought flew through the back of his mind to grow his hair out, before her hands found his ears and pulled him closer. "Oh God! Doctor! Fuck!"

He pushed himself as close as he could. He needed more of her taste, and he would get it. His tongue slipped out of her to give some much-needed attention to her clitoris, he gave it a gentle nip before sucking it and allowing his tongue to write ' _mine_ ' in his native language. From his position between her legs, he watched  _his_  Rose as he slipped three fingers into her as he bit and kissed her upper thighs as he fucked her with his fingers. Her head was thrown back, eyes close and lip between her teeth.

" _You are so beautiful and mine. You belong to me and I belong to you. I will protect and provide and love you for all of my lives. I ask for so little, just let me rule you and you can have everything you want. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave_." He vowed to her in his native language wishing she could understand him yet at the same time afraid that if she could it would be too much too soon. Rose bucked and tightened her grip on his ears as her walls tightened around his fingers, she was close. He brought his mouth back to her core began to suck and nip her clitoris as his fingers continued to all but slam into her.

"So close, so close! Like that! Yes! Doctor!" Rose began to babble.

"Cum for me." He whispered against her in English and she tensed up with a silent scream and he lapped up everything she gave him like a starving dog. Once he had cleaned her he got to his feet and kissed her, allowing her to taste herself on his tongue. She moaned and kissed him back before reaching out and went to undo his jeans, but he stopped her.

"What about you?" She whispered against his lips.

"We'll never leave the TARDIS if we worry about my needs, love. And I promised you Christmas in 1860 Naples." He told her as he helped her put her jeans and knickers back on before helping her down from the console. Her smile widened at being reminded about where they were.

"Well, come on then!" Rose said grabbing his hand and started jogging to the door, but the Doctor planted his feet stopping them and causing her to look at him in confusion.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked her.

"1860." Rose told him and the Doctor's eyes raked over her grey shirt covered with a pink and grey jacket, jeans, and trainers.

"Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella." He told her and she glanced at down at herself as if just noticing what she was wearing. "There's a wardrobe through there," He pointed towards the hallway to the right of the one that held their rooms, "first left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left. Hurry up!" He told her giving her a light push.

"Right. Won't be long!" Rose told him before giving him a quick peck on the lips and took off. He smiled after her lovingly and began to wonder what the TARDIS would pick out for her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine-**

When Rose got to the wardrobe room she couldn't stop herself from covering her face and blushed deeply as she leaned against the door, her mind racing over what had  _just_  happened. She had always dreamed and fantasized about doing  _that_  with him on the console, but  _never_  in her entire life did she  _ever_  believe he would actually do  _that_. And what made it even better that it was her leather clad Doctor that had done it! She felt the TARDIS giggle in her head.

Rose sighed and shook her head. She had to get ready for their date in 1869 Cardiff instead of 1860 Naples. Rose pushed off the door and walked through the wardrobe room in search for that beautiful dress once more. She had loved it the first time she had worn it, loved the way the Doctor had looked at her. She wanted to see what his reaction to her in that dress would be this time around now that he wasn't holding himself back any more.

Finding the dress and slipping into it wasn't nearly as hard as it had been the first time, now that she knew how to do it. After quickly doing her hair and make up, Rose checked herself in the mirror making sure the black and maroon off the shoulder dress was sitting right and that her boobs weren't popping out. Her eyes caught the mark on her neck that the Doctor had made and rolled her eyes. As much as she wanted to keep it there, she knew that in this time period that mark would be too scandalous.

She spent five minutes covering the mark, and by the time she made it back to the console room the Doctor had gotten bored and started to tinker. Hearing her approach, the Doctor looked over at her and dropped his screwdriver in shock as his mouth dropped open. Rose blushed and smoothed the skirt of the dress down.

"Blimey." The Doctor breathed out, his eyes raking up and down her.

"Don't laugh." Rose told him even though she knew he never would, his reaction was similar to his first one, only that time he hadn't dropped his screwdriver. She wondered if he would add the 'for a human' part to his complement or not.

"You look beautiful." He told her.

"Considering I'm human?" Rose asked slightly insecure. It had hurt her quite a bit when he had told her that the first time seeing as she had spent time trying to make herself look as good as she could for him. She had picked out the dress with him in mind and everything. And when he had looked at her like he had she had thought it had worked, but then he had added that 'for a human' bit and it had taken everything in her not to cry. She had never told him, but after that, whenever he had complimented her look her mind would always whisper 'for a human' after it, and she never truly felt beautiful after that.

"Rose, you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and I've seen quite a lot. I've seen the creation of the universe, I've seen almost every sunrise and sunset. I've seen the start of millions of species. And nothing I've ever seen can compare to your beauty." The Doctor told her climbing out from underneath the console to take her head in his hands. "And I doubt I'll ever find anything as beautiful as you, and whoever made you believe you aren't beautiful is a blind idiot." He finished with a soft kiss to her lips. Rose teared up as his words finally killed that stupid voice in the back of her mind and she finally felt beautiful again.

"Aren't you going to change?" Rose asked after taking a moment to collect herself. The Doctor looked down at himself in confusion, before spotting the fallen screwdriver.

"I've changed my jumper!" He told her as he quickly climbed back under the console and grabbed his screwdriver, shoving it into his pocket. "Come on." He said before climbing back up to her.

"You stay there, you've done this before." Rose told him rushing to the doors, she had loved doing this the first time and she would be damned if she didn't get to do it again this time. "This is  _mine_." She told him as she stepped out of the TARDIS and into the breath takingly beautiful snow covered alley, it was just a beautiful and breath taking as before. She smiled to herself as the snow beneath her feet crunched as she slowly walked around letting herself take in everything.

"Ready for this?" The Doctor asked as he slipped a cloak over her shoulders allowing Rose to realize how cold she was. She quickly tied the cloak and pulled it close to try and warm up some. "Here we go." He smiled at her as he offered her his arm and she gladly took it smiling back at him. She would enjoy this peaceful time with him before they had to deal with the Gelth, and maybe this time they hopefully wouldn't fight each other, but something in her whispered that she would be disappointed in her hope. "History."

Rose allowed the Doctor to lead her out of the alley way and snuggled close to him as the wind and the cold hit them as she took in everything from the people to the horse drawn carriages. It was just as she remembered it, and just as cold too. The Doctor led her over to a paperboy and bought a paper, and Rose had to bite her tongue from laughing as he finally realized where he had landed them.

"I got the flight a bit wrong." The Doctor told her, his voice holding disappointment and anger.

"I don't care." Rose told him truthfully.

"It's not 1860, it's 1869." He told her.

"I don't care." Rose told him once more.

"And it's not Naples." He told her slightly embarrassed.

"I don't care." Rose told him again, already knowing where they were.

"It's Cardiff." The Doctor told her looking as if he was expecting her to be angry with him.

"Well then, let's go see what happens in 1869 Cardiff, shall we?" Rose asked causing him to smile widely at her. They continued walking arm in arm as Rose leaned her head on his shoulder knowing that in just a few short minutes their quiet night out would be interrupted. And, a few minutes later, screams cut through the air like she expected it to.

"That's more like it." The Doctor cried out happily tossing the newspaper over his shoulder as the two of them took off toward the scream at a run. They came to the theatre and Rose tried to keep her grip on the Doctor's arm hoping to not get separated form him this time. But her hand was dislodged from his arm by one of the many frightened theatre goers and she lost him in the crowd. "Rose!" The Doctor yelled for her.

"I'm fine! Go! I'll catch up with you!" Rose called to him before allowing herself to be pushed backwards with the crowd rather than waste the energy fighting her way through them. She would make her way into the theatre once the crowd had thinned. As she waited outside the theatre for the crowd to thin enough she caught sight of Gwyneth and Sneed loading the woman into the back of the hearse and ran over to her. "What are you doing?" She demanded even though she knew the answer.

"Oh!" Gwyneth called out in shock trying, and failing, to use her body to block Rose from seeing the woman's body. "It's a tragedy, miss. Don't worry yourself, me and the master will deal with it." Rose saw Sneed quickly slip behind the hearse and knew what he was about to do. "Fact is, this poor lady has been taken with a brain fever. We have to get her to the infirmary."

"You're lying, I know she's dead. Just like I know this isn't the first time this has happened." Rose told Gwyneth before her body reacted to the man behind her long before her brain had realized it had moved. One second she was staring down Gwyneth and the next, she was holding Sneed's arm behind his back and him on his knees in front of her with her growling at him. "Mr. Sneed. I must say it is very rude to drug someone who is only trying to help you with your little problem."

"Problem, Miss?" Sneed stammered out his eyes wide as he frantically looked around, either for a way out or trying to spot how many people had noticed him being taken down by a woman. "We-we have no problems. We are just trying to help this dear lady. Sick she is, you know."

"Right, and you trying to knock me out instead of just telling me that is common now a days is it?" Rose asked.

"Right, well, you see." Sneed stumbled out and Rose rolled her eyes before taking pity on the man who was just trying to do the only thing he thought he could do and released him. The second he was released, Gwyneth was by Sneed's side in an instant helping him up. "So, who are you then, Miss? To disturb us in this time of urgent need?" Rose bit back the urge to roll her eyes and smile at him as he tried to turn this around on her. Part of her was waiting for him to tell her she wouldn't understand, being a simple female that she was.

"My name is Rose and I'm a friend." She greeted him with a small, professional smile and a nod of the head. "I work for a man called the Doctor. We are very aware of your problem with the deceased being restless. We can help." Rose nearly laughed when the pair of them looked at her in shock, but she swallowed down the laugh and kept the professional smile on her face.

"And how exactly can this man help us?" Sneed asked softly as he closed the back door of the hearse. "Is he... is he from the Church?" Rose glanced back towards the theatre knowing that the Doctor would run out of there any minute now, she needed them here long enough for him to arrive. It would be hard enough to explain to him why she had stopped them without her having been in the theatre to witness them taking the woman.

"No, but I assure you that he has plenty of experience in dealing with the unknown." Rose told them.

"Ah, a detective than." Sneed nodded.

"Doctor, actually." Rose corrected him with a smile. "A very learned man. He and I can help you."

"Rose!" The Doctor called out to her in both excitement and worry. She looked towards the stairs of the theatre and saw him jogging down the steps towards them with Charles Dickens following him. She found it funny to watch Charles continue to rant and deny what he had seen with his own eyes. That was so the Charlie Boy she remembered so fondly. A smile bloomed over her face as she turned to address him and went to take a step towards him. Her heart stopped when her foot slipped sending her crashing to the cobblestone.

"ROSE!" Was the last thing she heard before her temple connected with the ground with a hard thud. And as everything faded away into darkness, the only thing floating through her mind were the words 'Of course'.

When Rose opened her eyes again she was confused for a couple of seconds as to why she was in her room sitting at her vanity. Shouldn't she with the Doctor helping him with the Gelth? It wasn't until she noticed that her reflection's eyes were glowing that she realized she was dreaming.

" _I wouldn't really call this a dream._ " Her reflection told her smiling wolfishly at her.

"Then what would you call it?" Rose asked.

" _A way to converse with you in a way you'll truly be able to understand me._ " Her reflection told her.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked and her reflection sighed in annoyance, but Rose got the feeling that the annoyance wasn't aimed at her.

" _I have been trying to converse with you for a while, ever since you gave birth to me-_ "

"Gave birth!?" Rose gasped out in shock. She had given birth to this thing? When? How? She had never been pregnant! At least, as far as she knew. Her reflection laughed at her.

" _Yes, gave birth, at least not in the way you're thinking. You created me. Half of me is you. Your body gave me life._ " Her reflection told her confusing and scaring her. " _Oh, I'm not explaining this well am I?_ "

"No." Rose told her reflection.

" _I am Bad Wolf._ " Her reflection told her and Rose could have sworn she heard what sounded like a wolf howling somewhere off in the distance. " _Normally when I try and talk to you, you never fully understand me. You get the gist what I'm trying to inform you, but never the whole thing. Like with Jack!_ "

"I understood what you meant about Jack, we made him the way he is now." Rose told Bad Wolf who growled at her.

" _No! Not the Face of Boe Jack! I'm talking about back in the flat when you wanted to talk to the Doctor about me but couldn't! I tried telling you to go find Jack at Torchwood or even to call him to talk to him but you did understand me and just shoved me away!_ " Bad Wolf told her with a huff.

"Sorry." Rose told her and Bad Wolf waved her apology away.

" _It's quite all right. I know there is, what you would call, a language barrier between us. It's a dance we have to figure out along the way. But it'll get easier for you to hear and understand me once you combine with the TARDIS once more, and a little more of me is left inside you._ " The Bad Wolf told her proudly confusing her.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked and Bad Wolf tilted her head.

" _Surely you understand that this body will have to go through looking into the heart of the TARDIS to save the Doctor. Rose Tyler looking into the heart of the TARDIS is a fixed moment in time, and must happen._ " Bad Wolf told her.

"No, I knew I would have to go through that again. But what do you mean about you being left inside me?" Rose asked.

" _Oh, not all of me. Your brain and body wouldn't be able to handle all of me, all that will be left is the amount that your body and brain can handle. Which, thanks to me, is a lot more this time around than last time._ " Bad Wolf told her proudly.

"You're still not making any sense!" Rose growled at her and Bad Wolf sighed.

" _After we safe the Doctor he turns right around and saves you by taking the Time Vortex out of you and releasing it back into the heart of the TARDIS. And doing that kills him. But he didn't get all of the Time Vortex out of you, there was a little piece left in the very back of your mind._ " Bad Wolf explained.

"And that piece was... I mean is you." Rose said and Bad Wolf nodded.

" _Yes, it was small but the longer you traveled with the Doctor inside the TARDIS the bigger is slowly became. As it grew it began to slowly change you to be able to handle holding it. You didn't notice the changes at first, and it probably would have taken you years to realize had you not met the Wire. You're not just faster, or stronger, or able to hold your breath longer. You're smarter and heal faster, you're able to feel and hear the TARDIS in a way not even the Doctor can. And you understand languages that are only spoken, read, and written by one other person._ " Bad Wolf told her with a smirk and Rose opened her mouth to ask what else had changed when Bad Wolf began to speak once more. " _But we don't have time for that, and I didn't ask the TARDIS to bring you here to talk about what you will learn over time._ "

"Then why did you bring me here?" Rose asked.

" _To tell you that Gwyneth must die tonight. And you must fight with the Doctor. He needs to know that he can be wrong and we'll be there for him even when he is wrong._ " Bad Wolf told her and Rose sighed.

"I see." Rose said before closing her eyes in slight annoyance, and when she opened them once more she found herself laying down staring into the worried blue eyes of the Doctor.


End file.
